The Demand for Sewage Disposal and Waste Assimilation

The purpose of this chapter is to examine what is known regarding households’ and firms’ demand for wastewater disposal. Of particular interest is the extent to which research has demonstrated that water disposal decisions are sensitive to market conditions and economic instruments. While there has been a very substantial amount of research conducted by engineers and scientists concerning the chemical and biological features of wastewater and its treatment (cf. the journals Waste Management, Water Resources Research and others), there has been relatively little attention paid by economists.