 Concerning the affordability of tariffs and ability to pay of user, in 1998 households that indicated expenses for water in the national living standards measurement survey, stated that on average they stood at 1.7% of their total expenses.This percentage is higher in urban areas (1.9%) than in rural communities with some basic infrastructure ("rural amanzanado" - 1.3%) and rural areas with scattered population ("rural disperso" - 0.9%).Within the poorest decile, this percentage is 1.9% on national average, but 3.3% in urban areas.