Abstract
Water scarcity is a critical global issue impacting human life.
Supply-side solutions alone do not meet the ever-increasing water
demands. Economic assessment of water resources can reduce water
scarcity risk by managing and prioritizing demand. This study aims to
estimate domestic water withdrawal (DWW) and its economic value globally
from 1980–2010. To represent the economic value, consumer surplus is
calculated by building a demand function for each country, based on the
water price at different levels of DWW per capita (DWWC). Global
domestic water withdrawal increased by a factor of 2.1 in 2010 compared
to 1980, with an average annual growth rate of 2.5%, while the
population increased 1.5 times during the same period. In 2010, 93-645
million people, in particular, 93-500 million of the African population,
did not have access to the basic water demand. The global average of
DWWC’s economic value is estimated as 2,015-4,076 USD in 2010 with a
5-6% increase from 1980 (1,909-3,884 USD). Also, it was found that,
because of the low water prices, the economic values of domestic water
are relatively low in some regions where water scarcity is one of the
major societal problems (e.g., Middle Eastern and North African)
compared to developed countries with a similar DWWC level. In such
regions, toward sustainable water management, it is suggested to
reconsider their policies adjusting water price and access to a fair
water demand level. Therefore, the proposed framework would be
beneficial for policymakers and international agencies to design
sustainable water management systems.