Untitled DocumentDomestic and institutional water demand: experimental, historical, and survey analysis
Macro Theme Area:
River Systems [Project ID: R16]
PI:
David Brookshire
CO-PI(s):
Janie Chermak
Basin focus:
Regional SW, Rio Grande
Specific area in
basin /
field sites:
Albuquerque
Summary/Goals: The urban demand experiments are a multiple-phase series of experiments that investigate consumer decisions regarding water use under different demand management schemes. The primary goal is to identify consumer response to various policies before they are initiated, such as the change in price of water. This will allow more efficient policy design, and avoid the political and practical difficulties associated with "trying out" untested policies on the public. While the experiments cannot fully replicate real world behavior of an entire population, they can provide insight into consumer preferences as responses at relatively low dollar and time cost.
The phases are as follows:
Phase 1: These involved non-computerized/computerized experiments in which participants allocated an aggregate budget between water and cash. At this level, the participants did not have to specify exact uses of water, only the aggregate number of units they wished to buy under different price/income and climate scenarios.
Phase 2. These ask participants to specify precisely how they will use the water they choose to purchase. As in phase 1, prices and weather will vary. As prices increase, participants will observe their "virtual" water bill increasing, and will be asked to decide whether to allocate more cash to paying that bill and/or to make behavioral changes that reduce their use. In this phase, behavioral changes can include taking shorter showers, reducing the frequency of car washing or laundry, rescution of expenditures in other budget categories and other changes etc that do not require investment in water-saving appliances or landscape features.
Activities and outcomes during past year:
Phase 1: All experiments for phase 1 have been completed. Results have been presented at conferences. Manuscripts from the phase 1 analysis have been prepared. The results have guided development of phase 2. The phase 2 experiments were re-designed based upon initial beta testing. Significant more choice detail and budgetary realism was incorporated into the experiment. At this point, beta testing of the phase 2 is nearly complete. Experiments are expected to be run early 2008.
2008 activities: Conducted urban water pricing experiments. The objective of the experiments was to estimate consumer price response over a wider range of prices than have historically or are currently being employed. Our experimental participants were customers of the Albuquerque Bernalillo Water Utility Authority. Over ten experimental rounds, prices ranged from a commodity charge of $1.27 per unit (a unit equals 748 gallons) to over $20 per unit. 180 individuals participated in the ten experimental sessions.
Preliminary data analysis suggests consumer responsiveness increases with price. The average response at low prices (less than $10 per unit) was highly inelastic (e.g., 1.5% decrease in consumption for a 10% increase in price). However, at the highest price, average response was elastic: a 12.6% decrease in consumption for a 10% increase in price. In addition, the range of elasticities at each price level indicates consumers are heterogeneous. The factors of heterogeneity are currently being investigated.
Organization Involvement:
The City provided essential data for the project. This was in the form of individual household wate bill records for a 5 year period.
Shared Resources / Joint Activities:
none
Location: Albuquerque, NM, USA
URL: N/A
City of Albuquerque
Organization Involvement:
City provided essential detail on household water bills.
Shared Resources / Joint Activities:
N/A
Location: Albuquerque, NM, USA
URL: N/A
MEDIA / PUBLICITY
Program Name / Article Title:
Water Fix: Shower Public with hikes
Media Type:
Print
Station / Publisher / Web site:
Rocky Mountain News
Date Aired / Published:
2/17/03
Source of Publicity:
Media coverage from Panel discussion at teh American Association for the Advancement of Science Conference in Denver.
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
Water too cheap to conserve, prof says
Media Type:
Print
Station / Publisher / Web site:
Denver Post
Date Aired / Published:
2/17/03
Source of Publicity:
Media coverage from lecture at American Association for Advancement of Science's annual meeting.
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
If Water Cost More, People Would Conserve, UNM Profs Say
Media Type:
Print
Station / Publisher / Web site:
Albuquerque Journal
Date Aired / Published:
May 24, 2003
Source of Publicity:
Media Coverage of research data and prices collected by Dr. Brookshire and Chermak
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
Fees for All Water Users Proposed
Media Type:
Print
Station / Publisher / Web site:
Albuquerque Journal
Date Aired / Published:
January 28, 2004
Source of Publicity:
Media Coverage of Legislative Bill introduced by Representative MiMi Stewart.
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
SAHRA Provides UNM Economists with Avenue To Promote Management of Water Resources and Public Policy
Media Type:
Web
Station / Publisher / Web site:
UNM Public Affairs
Date Aired / Published:
January 15, 2004
Source of Publicity:
Media Coverage of the conference "SAHRA Science: Improving Understanding of Semi-Arid Hydrology."
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
Agency's water rates reduced
Media Type:
Print
Station / Publisher / Web site:
Rocky Mountain News
Date Aired / Published:
October 30, 2002
Source of Publicity:
Media coverage regarding Denver Parks Department water usage.
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
New project helps conservation plans
Media Type:
Print
Station / Publisher / Web site:
UNM Daily Lobo Student Newspaper
Date Aired / Published:
January 29, 2004
Source of Publicity:
Media coverage regarding SAHRA research.
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
Ancient aquifers aren't up to area needs
Media Type:
Print
Station / Publisher / Web site:
Rocky Mountain News
Date Aired / Published:
February 17, 2003
Source of Publicity:
Media coverage on the American Association for the Advancement of Science convention.
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
Professors: low water prices mean more waste
Media Type:
Print
Station / Publisher / Web site:
UNM Daily Lobo Student Newspaper
Date Aired / Published:
July 31, 2003
Source of Publicity:
Media coverage concerning the city of Albuquerque's water usage.
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
Urban Water, Prices, and Scarcity
Media Type:
other
Station / Publisher / Web site:
State of New Mexico Interim Water and Natural Resource Legislative Committee
Date Aired / Published:
July 17, 2003
Source of Publicity:
Presentation to the State of New Mexico Interim Water and Natural Resource Legislative Committee
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
Consumer Demand Repsonse, Data Gaps, and Demand Management of Water in the Southwestern U.S.
Media Type:
TV
Station / Publisher / Web site:
AAS Symposium
Date Aired / Published:
2003
Source of Publicity:
Presentation at the AAS Symposium
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
Water Bills Flow Into Legislature
Media Type:
Print
Station / Publisher / Web site:
Albuquerque Journal
Date Aired / Published:
January 20, 2004
Source of Publicity:
Media Coverage regarding water bills proposed in Legislature.
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
Water Reforms Needed, But How Likely?
Media Type:
Print
Station / Publisher / Web site:
Santa Fe New Mexican
Date Aired / Published:
January 17, 2004
Source of Publicity:
Media Coverage regarding water issues in Legislative session.
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
Forecasters: No Relief in Sight for State's Drought
Media Type:
Print
Station / Publisher / Web site:
Santa Fe New Mexican
Date Aired / Published:
January 5, 2004
Source of Publicity:
Media Coverage regarding New Mexico drought.
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
Drained New Mexico Tries to Stay Afloat as Demands Rise and Water Levels Fall
Media Type:
Print
Station / Publisher / Web site:
Santa Fe New Mexican
Date Aired / Published:
November 2, 2003
Source of Publicity:
Media coverage regarding New Mexico drought.
Download File:
N/A
Program Name / Article Title:
Water at the Intersection of Science and Public Policy
Media Type:
other
Station / Publisher / Web site:
Los Alamos National Laboratories
Date Aired / Published:
April 23, 2003
Source of Publicity:
Presentation at 60th anniversary meeting on water, drought, and New Mexico.
