 Based on a sample of 23 major cities in Latin America the average residential water tariff for a monthly consumption of 15 cubic meter was US$0.41, equivalent to a monthly bill of only about US$6.It appears that most utilities in Latin America recover more than their operating costs and thus generate surpluses to self-finance a portion of their investments.The average recovery coefficient of operating costs among a sample of 48 private and public utilities from 8 countries was 1.64.