Households’ willingness-to-pay for different strategies aimed at reducing water supply network dysfunctions. A French case-study

ABSTRACT

Using an original contingent valuation, this study compares the Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) of households for three water pipes renewal programs focused respectively on water quality, reducing leaks in networks and preventing breaks. A survey was conducted in southwest France: respondents were asked to rank the different renewal programs and then state the maximum amount they would be willing to pay in order to benefit from each. Results of a Heckman model suggest that variables influencing the probability of refusing to pay for a non-economic reason and the WTP differ from one program to another, which validates this choice of model. WTP estimates are not of the same order of magnitude whatever the program, and remained relatively low when compared to the actual water bill. While asset management is often only seen as an activity calling for specialised technical knowledge, users are able to perceive the outcome of that management process.

KEYWORDS:

• Water supply
• infrastructure asset management
• contingent valuation
• households’ preferences
• Heckman two-stage sample selection model

List of abbreviations

Abbreviation	=	Definition
CBA	=	CBA
DWN	=	DWN
IAM	=	Infrastructure Asset Management
OLS	=	Ordinary Least Square
PVC	=	Polyvinyl chloride
SROI	=	Social Return On Investment
VCM	=	Vinyl Chloride Monomer
WTP	=	Willingness To Pay

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the partners of the project “Oriented Renewal of Pipes” (ROC) for their collaboration, comments and suggestions. They also wish to thank the participants of the International Water Association’s (IWA) 9^th Leading Edge Conference on Strategic Asset Management (LESAM) held from May 11 to 13, 2022 in Bordeaux, France, for the inspiring conversations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

Funding acquisition: Bénédicte Rulleau

Supervision: Bénédicte Rulleau

Methodology: Bénédicte Rulleau and Margaux Sinceux

Survey design: Bénédicte Rulleau and Margaux Sinceux

Data collection: Bénédicte Rulleau and Margaux Sinceux

Data curation: Margaux Sinceux

Data analysis: Bénédicte Rulleau and Margaux Sinceux

Validation: Bénédicte Rulleau and Margaux Sinceux

Writing: Bénédicte Rulleau and Margaux Sinceux

Availability of data and materials

The data that support the findings of this study cannot be shared openly due to GDPR. It may, however, be available from the author upon reasonable request and with permission from the CNIL.

Code availability

The code for all analyses reported in the manuscript is available on request.

Consent to participate

The French National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL), the independent administrative regulatory body that ensures the implementation of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in France, allows to waive the requirement to obtain any informed consent for research studies.

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Ethics approval

1. This material is the authors’ own original work, which has not been previously published elsewhere.

2. The paper is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.

3. The paper reflects the authors’ own research and analysis in a truthful and complete manner.

4. The paper properly credits the meaningful contributions of co-authors and co-researchers.

5. The results are appropriately placed in the context of prior and existing research.

6. All sources used are properly disclosed (correct citation). Literally copying of text must be indicated as such by using quotation marks and giving proper references.

7. All authors have been personally and actively involved in substantial work leading to the paper, and will take public responsibility for its content.

8. The survey protocol was checked and approved by the steering committee of the ROC project.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed https://doi.org/10.1080/1573062X.2024.2342781

Notes

1. The interested reader is referred to Canneva and Guérin-Schneider (2011a) and Canneva and Guérin-Schneider (2011b) for further information on why and how performance indicators were developed in France.

2. SISPEA is the French National Observatory on public water and sanitation services. It provides an overview of the services and their performance. https://www.services.eaufrance.fr/

3. https://www.cieau.com/lobservatoire-de-leau/c-i-eau-infographies/eau-du-robinet-eau-en-bouteille-queboivent-les-francais/

4. It should be noted that the coefficients in the ‘Selection co-effect’ and ‘Outcome co-effect’ columns are not exactly equal to those in Table 5, because two different R packages were used.

Additional information

Funding

This work is part of the project “Oriented Renewal of Pipes” (ROC) funded by the Nouvelle Aquitaine Region, the Loire-Bretagne and Adour-Garonne water agencies and the Aquitaine regional public health authorities (ARS).