Appropriate Pricing Policy Needed Worldwide for Improving Water Services Infrastructure

This article highlights the enormous and growing gap between the projected and required financing of water services infrastructure, which is caused by unviable pricing and/or cost recovery regimes. There are diverse constraints in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and non-OECD countries contributing to the underpricing of water services; however, the message is clear: water is a scarce resource that needs to be priced appropriately to ensure continued viable supply and delivery. Customers will have to bear the costs of all or at least a major part of this adjusted pricing. Therefore, better awareness of broader economic and social benefits of water supply, particularly of sanitation, also will be needed.