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http://www.oecd.org/document/47/0,3343,en_2649_37465_36146415_1_1_1_1,00.html
Water – The right price can encourage efficiency and investment
Climate change and over-use of water will mean that nearly on in every two people will live in water-stressed areas by 2030. Households, industry and agriculture will increasingly compete for water (see figure 1), leaving little to sustain ecosystems.
Three new OECD studies say that putting the right price on water will encourage people to waste less, pollute less, and invest more in water infrastructure.
Households and industry in many OECD countries increasingly pay the true cost of the water they consume. Pricing Water Resources and Water and Sanitation Services shows this is done through tariffs – user prices – which better reflect the actual consumption and treatment costs, including water abstraction and supply as well as treatment of wastewater to avoid pollution.
Tariffs for water and wastewater services vary significantly across OECD countries. A bathtub of water in Denmark and Scotland can cost 10 times more than in Mexico while Irish households pay no direct fees for water. Water bill increases over the last decade were primarily driven by higher wastewater charges to cover the costs of investment in environmentally-sound treatment and disposal. In many OECD countries it now costs more to get rid of wastewater than to bring in drinking water.
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