Water Policy In Press, Uncorrected Proof © IWA Publishing 2010  |  doi:10.2166/wp.2010.112

Cost recovery in times of demographic change: Portugal’s domestic water policy

Catrin Egertona, Rui Santosa, João Almeidab, David Alvesb, Edgar Carvalhoa and Gisela Robalo

Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Centre for Environmental and Sustainability Research, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal. E-mail: catrin.egerton@gmail.com
IRAR: Institute for the Regulation of Water and Solid Waste, Lisbon, Portugal

Received 14 August 2009; accepted in revised form 4 February 2010. Available online 28 October 2010

Cost recovery is a key tenet of the Water Framework Directive, but scalar implications of this in the domestic water sector are rarely addressed. It is more expensive to supply water services to rural populations owing to cost of provision across areas which are extensive yet sparsely populated; however, residents in rural areas often have lower incomes than urban populations. Taking the case of Portugal, the paper shows that, under conditions of cost recovery, prices will increase for populations in rural areas, a situation which is likely to worsen in future given out-migration from these areas. The discussion has a broader bearing on issues of even regional development and can contribute to a general understanding of how forming water policies in times of demographic change can be addressed from a policy and governance perspective.

Keywords: Cost recovery; Policy scale; Rural development; Water services

Full text PDF