Analysing rationing policies: drought and its effects on urban users' welfare (Analysing rationing policies during drought)

The aim of this paper is to study the impact on consumers of rationing policies implemented during water shortages. Water scarcity gives rise to the need for rationing, and various methods, including supply cutoffs, can be used. A model is devised to quantify the welfare losses associated with qualitive and quantitive restrictions. Based on virtual prices and using the consumer surplus as a welfare measurement, welfare variations for different users have been calculated. To achieve the aim, information relative to Seville (Spain) has been used, analysing the drought period that took place in the first half of the 1990s. It has been possible to observe the main source that led to welfare losses for each kind of user.