Demand side management(DSM) is the newly raised issues in the water resources
management in recent. Many of the policy tools among demand management, the most
important measures might be a pricing system. Furthermore, the responses of consumers
on the price for water consumption level is the key factor for policy making. Here, we
estimated panel data for 167 regions and over 7 years periods in Korea. Compare to
other previous studies the price elasticities were somewhat low. The estimated price
elasticity was -0.05. It was because the short term estimated period may derive lower
elasticities. However, it might be a recent trend after the continuous increment of
water pricing and consumers not willing to decrease their residential water consumption
with increasing water pricing. According to this results, water saving effect might be
much smaller than we expect with pricing policy. However, It does not imply there is
no price effects on water consumption and it’s still meaningful as a tool of water
management.