Abstract

GARCIA-SALAZAR, J. Alberto  and  MORA-FLORES, J. Saturnino. Tarifas y consumo de agua en el sector residencial de la Comarca Lagunera. Región y sociedad [online]. 2008, vol.20, n.42, pp.119-132. ISSN 2448-4849.

The scarcity of water in the Comarca Lagunera justifies studies analyzing water demand among consumers. For detecting which factors affect the amount of water used in the metropolitan area of the Comarca Lagunera, two water demand functions in the urban sector of Torreón, Coahuila, and Gómez Palacio, Durango were estimated.The results indicate that the water used responded in an inelastic way to changes in tariffs, with elasticities of -0.20 and -0.18 for each city, respectively; that water consumption increases as consumer income rises, and that water and electricity are complementary goods. Due to the low price elasticity of water demand, increasing rates over time is not recommended for reducing consumption, because such tariff increases would have little effect on the amount of water used.

Keywords : water; demand; elasticity; tariffs; electricity; residential.