Urban water management water pricing and financing of drinking water investments

With the increase in urban population, the demand for water is increasing. On the other hand, the pollution caused by urban wastewater causes the quality of water resources to deteriorate. It is necessary to meet the water need and discharge the waste water to the ecological environment without causing any harm. These objectives require high-cost investments. Meeting these costs necessitates the correct determination of the price of water and the use of water revenues in these services. The aim of the research is to evaluate the current practices in the management of urban water supply and demand through the example of Merzifon district, which is a medium-sized city, and to reveal the importance of pricing for the protection of water resources, providing affordable access to water, and realizing sustainable urban water and wastewater management. Physical and administrative losses were determined by establishing the water balance of the drinking water network. Failure conditions in the drinking water network were evaluated. Sustainable economic physical loss level has been determined in case of renewal of the drinking water network. In the current situation, according to the data of 2020, the unit price of water has been calculated by considering the resource and environmental costs. A SWOT analysis was carried out on the basis of water and sewerage management. Urban water and wastewater management, services, willingness to pay analyzes were made by surveying the district households, business and neighborhood headmen. The drinking water network renewal project is the project to be carried out by the municipality using external resources, and this project has been handled using static and dynamic evaluation methods. A large part of the district's water resources are underground water resources. These water resources are used in drinking, industrial and agricultural areas. The water loss and leakage rates in the district drinking water network are high. It has been determined that physical (real) water losses are 44.12% of the water supplied to the system, and 51.29% of the water supplied to the system for non-revenue water. In case of realization of the drinking water network renewal project, which is included in the municipality investment program, the target water balance has been determined. The level of sustainable economic physical loss was determined to be 4.5%, taking into account the resource costs of the water due to the groundwater fall and the resource costs realized according to the DSI 2020 budget resulting from the basin-based protection works. While the infrastructure leakage index was 13.6, it was calculated as 1.4 in case of network renewal. Considering the maintenance and repair of water meters every 10 years, it is seen that the use of electronic meters with prepaid cards is not economical. Household solvency was calculated as 3% considering the current invoice amount, and it was seen that it would increase to 5% if water and wastewater costs were fully reflected. This shows that if the value of water is fully reflected in the tariffs, the solvency problems will deepen. Necessary price signals must be conveyed to consumers in order to protect water. These price signals can be prevented by applying a progressive tariff so that the solvency is not a problem, and by providing social assistance to those who have difficulty in paying. Based on the evaluation of the drinking water renewal project and the current average water price, the project is not feasible. It has been determined that the average water unit price of the project, which equates the net present value to zero at a discount rate of 7%, is 4.97 TL.