Watering down the water dilemmas: Towards a fresh assessment of water distribution in Metro Manila

This paper provides an initial assessment of the water distribution services in Metro Manila by considering and unifying the different optimization problems of households, the firm, and the regulator that were based from the interviews conducted. The presence of deep wells as a source of household water supply and having real state estate developers as the primary water distributors are distinctive characteristics of our water distribution problem. We provide a single-period model that examines the household’s utility maximization and firm’s profit maximization problems. The role the regulator is to ensure welfare enhancing outcomes with their interaction. The paper has considered the various subtleties that are specific to our case, which previous models that based on the experiences of developed countries failed to account. Thus, this preliminary work intended to provide an initial flavor of the conditions that are prevailing at present. It is hoped that through the collection of proper data, the propositions derived from this paper can be verified empirically