Water demand management in Kuwait

Abstract

Kuwait is an arid country located in the Middle East, with limited access to water resources. Yet water demand per capita is much higher than in other countries in the world, estimated to be around 450 L/capita/day. There are several reasons for such a high demand, but one is certainly the price. Water does have its pricing schedule in Kuwait, but in reality water bills are not collected. The main objective of this thesis is to investigate the impact of water pricing as a tool for managing water demand. The original idea, to construct a water demand model for Kuwait, was modified because of the lack of data about the effect of price increases and household water consumption characteristics in Kuwait. So, water demand models described in the literature for several arid regions were adapted and recalibrated for Kuwait. Simulations describing the influence of block tariffs, constant prices, free allowances followed by various pricing schemes were conducted. A pricing schedule has been proposed that consists of a free allowance followed by a constant price. The proposal has the following logic: if water is consumed wisely, only to satisfy vital needs, it should be free.

(cont.) However, to limit over consumption, the quantity of water over the allowance should be priced. The results showed that this kind of pricing schedule would be efficient in significantly reducing demand. The models show that a price of water of $1/m3, after a 150L/capita/day allowance, would reduce the demand by about 35 percent (with a range of around 20-40 percent, depending on the demand model used).