Public Support for Water Supply Improvements: Empirical Evidence From Unplanned Settlements of Delhi, India

Abstract

The unplanned sector of India’s capital city has an enormous backlog in the provision of reliable water supplies to its population, which is further exacerbated by the growing number of informal urban settlements. In this context, contingent valuation method (CVM) is applied to evaluate a policy of providing better water supply with improved quality and reliability in unplanned settlements of Delhi. Willingness to pay (WTP) questions are used to value a specific outcome of a policy intended to assure a reliable water supply that has no health risk of contamination. The estimation from linear utility models assert that the proposed changes would provide positive net benefits to customers who are otherwise incurring considerable amounts of “coping cost” in the absence of a reliable water supply. The findings have important policy implications for gauging public support for water supply improvements in infrastructurally disadvantaged households.