ABSTRACT In 2015, increases in the domestic water tariff in Saudi Arabia were met with significant opposition. Although the increases were needed to address the technical and financial sustainability of the service in the context of extreme scarcity and high costs, insufficient effort was made to explain the changes and prepare the public. This paper examines the trade-offs surrounding the design of a domestic water tariff, based on economic theory and global experience, and sets out the competing factors Saudi Arabia should consider when designing a new tariff structure to provide long-term public acceptability while ensuring the service remains sustainable.

中文翻译：

---

沙特阿拉伯水费改革的驱动因素和挑战

摘要 2015 年，沙特阿拉伯提高国内水价遭到强烈反对。尽管在极度稀缺和高成本的情况下需要增加服务的技术和财务可持续性，但没有做出足够的努力来解释这些变化并让公众做好准备。本文基于经济理论和全球经验，研究了围绕国内水费设计的权衡取舍，并列出了沙特阿拉伯在设计新的水费结构以提供长期公众可接受性同时确保服务保持可持续。