Understanding Water Utility Attitudes toward Water Transfers and Risk: Pretest Results
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 144, Issue 4
Abstract
Water transfers between utilities can be a cost-effective substitute for supply infrastructure expansions when seeking to reduce vulnerability to drought. Water utility employees may choose not to use water transfers, however, if they are risk averse, have nonmonetary preferences against transfers, or are uninformed about the benefits of transfers. A pretest is conducted for two surveys that address these issues. The results indicate that, on average, employees are indeed risk averse and prefer supply expansions to transfers, but they become more receptive to transfers after learning more about them. In addition, there is considerable heterogeneity in beliefs; hence, a subset of water utilities may be inclined to use water transfers.
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Acknowledgments
This research is supported by NSF Grant WSC-1360442.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 144 • Issue 4 • April 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 5, 2017
Accepted: Aug 22, 2017
Published online: Jan 26, 2018
Published in print: Apr 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Jun 26, 2018
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