WWRC 97-05ss
Effectiveness of Residential Water Conservation Price and Non-Price
Programs in Urban Areas in the Western U.S.
Introduction
Municipal water conservation in the western U.S. is
receiving increased attention by water managers, the
public, professional organizations and the media as a
means to balance water supplies and demand at
reasonable costs. Both recurrent drought and
projected long term demand-supply problems
necessitate that municipal water suppliers plan for
water conservation. However, the effects of
conservation programs such as multi-part tariffs and
uniform or inclining block rate structures upon
residential water use in different regions is not well
understood even though there is an extensive body of
literature dealing with these questions. Further, the
synergistic effects of price and non-price programs
and persistence of program effects are not well
studied and there is very little research literature that
addresses these issues.
This report describes research conducted to evaluate
the effectiveness of residential water conservation
price and non-price programs in urban areas of the
western U.S. The study encompasses seven cities in
three states over a fifteen year period from 1980
through 1995. Additional information on the study
areas and database documentation are provided in a
separate report entitled Residential Water
Consumption, Rate and Non-Price Conservation
Program Database (1996) available through the
AWWARF and The Powell Consortium
(http:/wm.nmsu.edu/powell/).
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