Water demand management: review of literature and comparison in South-East Asia

The present paper reviews the literature on urban water demand management and compares practices in South-East Asia. Existing literature is mostly from developed economies and is concerned mainly with elasticity studies, which are not relevant to developing countries because their main problem is non-revenue water. Cities in South-East Asia employ both price and non-price mechanisms to regulate demand. Price mechanisms include increasing block tariffs, fixed, volumetric, raw water, and conservancy charges, rebates, cross-subsidies and periodic rebasing. Non-price mechanisms such as management, engineering and regulatory mechanisms, as well as public education and community involvement, play important roles. More studies are needed to establish their efficacy and cost-effectiveness.