Determinants of public support for water supply reforms in a small developing economy

In most small developing countries, the public sector is struggling to provide an optimum level of public goods to the citizens. A particularly important good is water. Safe drinking water has been recognised as a basic need for a long time. Inadequate supply of safe water can have major health implications and Fiji has faced serious problem with respect to the supply of water to its general population. In this paper, we examine the case of two urban cities and one town where disruptions to the supply of drinking water are a frequent occurrence. The severity of the problem is measured together with the strategies employed by the affected households to cope with the problem. We found that households are willing to pay more to secure better services. Utilising an established econometrics approach, the determinants of the willingness to pay are also identified.