Burden sharing and fairness principles in Water Management for the Global South

In this research project we aim to investigate what the preferences are for rules around sharing the burden of paying for water services in different supply scenarios, including what constitutes as "reasonable" or "fair" water bills. We propose to address these issues in a network of four urban water observatories in Santiago, San José, Nairobi and Durban. The network provides a rare and valuable opportunity to conduct parallel research activities that have strong external validity for a wide variety of urban settings in the Global South. The objective is to investigate, using lab-in-the-field experiments, the preferences for burden sharing rules in the context of water payments. We want to understand how the perception and preferences for burden sharing varies under different water scarcity scenarios, including extreme weather issues impacting water supply. We also want to understand how user groups willingness to pay for infrastructure (man-made vs ecological) varies based in socio-demographic and contextual heterogeneity.