Toward Efficient, Equitable and Sustainable Municipal Water Supplies for Domestic Purposes in the West Bank: A Contingent Valuation Analysis
Date
2010-05-03
Authors
Awad, I.
Hollander, R.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
E.W.
Abstract
This paper is an empirical work dealing with municipal water services in the West Bank where the emphasis is put on the analysis of water management. Toward that end, the study used Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to estimate the Total Economic Value (TEV) of domestic water uses. The application of this approach consists of the construction a hypothetical market. The dichotomous choice with follow-up format question was utilized in developing the CV questionnaire; this elicitation technique was used to model Willingness to Pay (WTP) utilizing Tobit econometric model, binary-Logit econometric model and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). The estimated coefficients of the econometric models were utilized to determine the relationship between WTP and socioeconomic variables, Log- likelihood and adjusted coefficient of determination (adjusted R2). Furthermore, the marginal impacts of the coefficients of Tobit model were used to measure the elasticities of the coefficients of the explanatory variables. The CVM was applied to a sample of 520 households in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate including urban and rural areas, and refugee camps. The face to face (in-person) interview survey was adopted. To assess the performance of water pricing policy, a questionnaire survey was directed to the personnel staff of water institutions. This method was administrated to a sample of 117 employees in the water institutions. Descriptive statistics enhanced by non- parametric tests were used. The main findings of this study were measured the WTP with key socioeconomic variables suggested by economic theory and CV studies including income, age, gender, location, educational level, employment status, family size, water consumption, and use of water filters. Also, the pricing policy of municipal water services was examined.
Description
Keywords
Contingent valuation method , total economic value , water management , West Bank , willingness to pay