Households’ affordability and willingness to pay for water services in Khan Younis city, Palestine

Willingness and affordability to pay for water services are significant factors in deciding the success and failure of water supply services. Due to the fact that households’ willingness to pay for water services are too heavily influenced by specific circumstances, culture, and various social-economic factors, this study aimed at offering a comprehensive picture of the willingness and affordability of household to pay for water services in Khan Younis City. This may provide guideline for Palestinian policy makers to develop a successful water pricing. It also aimed at recognizing the factors that determine households’ willingness to pay and assessing households’ perception of the existing water supply situation and water problems. To fulfill the aim of the study, the researcher used quantitative research method where a questionnaire survey was conducted. The questionnaire was distributed to 400 citizens in Khan Younis city. A pilot study was accomplished and thirty copies of the questionnaire were distributed to receive feedback to modify the form, and to make it easier for respondents to deal with it. SPSS software package was applied to identify the most relevant factors affecting household's affordability, and willingness to pay. The results of the analyses indicated that income, water distribution schedule, water quality, water quantity, municipality services, marital status, water network maintenance, water continuity, techniques in the municipality to deliver citizen’s complaint satisfaction, staff response speed about the delivered complaint in the suitable time were determinants for household customer’s willingness to pay and had an effect on it. Furthermore, results revealed that satisfaction of households towards (water network maintenance, municipality service, available techniques in municipality to deliver citizen’s complaint, staff response speed about the delivered complaint in the suitable time and water quality) was not good. Therefore, the municipality of Khan Younis city has to make improvements to raise its services quality. Also, analysis indicated that there were different reasons for not committing to pay water bills. The most important ones were low income with percent 20.5%, the bad quality of water with percent 25.2% and bad municipality services with percent 17.9%. Based on the study findings, it is recommended that the municipality of Khan Younis city to make improvements to improve water quality. In addition the municipality a