Abstract:
This study examines the price and income elasticity of
water of Darjeeling town in West Bengal, India. We
collected the primary data between 2017 and 2018
through the survey method. Here simple random
sampling has been used for interviewing 100 households.
We divided the households into groups of 25
each according to the mode of consumption of water,
such as domestic pipeline, commercial pipeline, domestic
water tanker and commercial water tanker.
This study concludes that the price for domestic pipeline
connection, commercial pipeline, domestic water
tanker and commercial water tanker is elastic by using
the midpoint formulae of elasticity. More specifically,
the consumption of water from commercial
tankers and households that have commercial pipeline
connection have relatively high elasticity as compared
to households depending on domestic pipeline connection
and domestic water tanker. Further, the result
shows that the income elasticity of water demand is relatively
high. Mainly, the income elasticity is less in
households under domestic pipeline and domestic
water tanker compared to those under commercial
pipeline and commercial water tanker. The overall
implication of the study is that rising water per litre
price has compelled the residents to compromise on
the quality of drinking water. Therefore, it is recommended
that the government follows the objective of
inter-generational equity for water in the long run.