Research Insights: Can Water Use Be Reduced through Policies that Promote Individual Metering of Water Consumption?

Using administrative data from the Empresa Pública de Agua y Saneamiento (EPMAPS) of Quito, Ecuador, it is found that water consumption decreases by approximately 8 percentage points (pp) after the introduction of individual meters. To obtain an equivalent drop of 8 pp in water consumption, but without individual meters, water consumption prices would have to be doubled. Individual water meters could be a useful tool for reducing water consumption in both developing and developed countries.