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Pricing irrigation water for drought adaptation in Iran
... Meanwhile, water market is one of the demand-side management strategies to deal with water shortages (Reddy, 2008;Wheeler et al., 2017;Rey et al., 2018;Aghaie et al., 2020) by reallocating water (Dick and Ringler 2008). On the basis of practical experiences (de Bonviller et al., 2020), water trade has advantages such as protecting social and environmental values (Crase and O'Keefe 2009), providing more efficient ways to water reallocation (Nikouei and Ward 2013;Wheeler et al., 2017), reducing drought damage (Najafi Alamdarlo et al., 2019). However, water trade may lead to reduce water inflows and lower groundwater levels (e.g., Garrick et al., 2009;Janmaat 2011;Ancev 2015), may not be suitable for areas with developing economies (Wheeler et al., 2017), may lead to favor rich and powerful people (Barlow and Clarke 2002), lead to deepen challenges in economies with inequality (Easter and Huang 2014) and lead to negative social externalities (e.g., Bourgeon et al., 2008;Poddar et al., 2014;Libecap 2015). ...
... Commercial (tradable) nature of water rights must be recognized in order to consolidate water rights (Matthews 2004). In Iran, ambitious goals have been targeted in order to reform the underlying structure of water resources management (Nikouei and Ward 2013). For example, in Iran's National Water Resources Development Plan for the 20-year horizon, the emphasis is on "organizing and developing local water markets (LWM)" (Iranian Ministry of Energy, 2012). ...
... In order to form a LWM in a given region, specific local conditions (including exchange restrictions, priority allocation, etc.) should be examined and the corresponding laws should be enacted (Ward and Pulido-Velazquez 2009;Maestu and Gómez-Ramos, 2013;Nikouei and Ward 2013;Sadoff et al., 2015;Wheeler et al., 2017). Some of the local conditions and limitations (rules) in this study are provided in Appendix B. ...
Water trade has been recognized as a tool to improve water efficiency and reduce negative impacts of water scarcity. However, water trade success depends on regional settings, institutional framework, trade mechanism and water consumer behavior. This research presents an agent based approach to simulate the behavior of farmers towards the local water market formation policy and measures its feedback in the hydrological-agricultural-economic system. Accordingly, the farmers in each region were represented as an agricultural agent while the environment with which farmers interact was partitioned into three parts: physical environment, economic environment and social environment. The behavior of agricultural agents was simulated based on linked mathematical programming and a multi-objective optimization model, coupled with Borda count method to resolve conflicts among agents. To evaluate the proposed method in a case study in central Iran, namely Najafabad hydrological unit, 16 scenarios, including black market scenario, were developed and further simulated. The results showed that the equilibrium water price was strongly influenced by water supply and demand in the system. The average equilibrium price under normal condition was equal to 3 cents per cubic meter. This is while if permits were to be reduced in accordance with aquifer recovery policy (both reducing supply and increasing demand), the average equilibrium price increased by about 3.5 cents. Conversely, following the scenario of imposing fines (penalties) for over-exploitation (increasing supply and reducing demand), the equilibrium price dropped to 2.5 cents.
... Nevertheless, groundwater is also owned as private property by farmers in order to irrigate their fields. The irrigators use a certain volume of water assigned by the Government and pump up the water from the aquifers for their private use (Nikouei and Ward 2013). This private use of groundwater requires a registration to the Ministry of Energy that delivers the authorizations to pump the water (ICARDA 2017), in order to control the implementation of wells. ...
... The efficiency of water pricing is highly related to water use efficiency, as previously introduced in this research. Iranian farmers have increased water use, not through surface water, but intensive irrigation in order to reach profitable yields (Nikouei and Ward 2013). Hence, a significant amount of water is wasted and over-irrigation is a frequent phenomenon, especially because of inefficient irrigation systems such as furrows. ...
... The charges for water must be suitable and affordable for irrigators; otherwise, a drastic increase of consumer price would be useless. Water price should at least enable farmers to recover the costs of production (Nikouei and Ward 2013). A study has calculated the maximal price farmers could afford per hectare for the following crops: onion, tomato, watermelon, cucumber, horticulture crops, almond, pomegranate, lime, and grape (Nikouei and Ward 2013). ...
Despite numerous advantages, human developments have caused profound impacts on ecosystems, especially on aquatic ecosystems that represent vast development potentials. In order to monitor the health and functioning of such ecosystems, the water physicochemical characteristics have shown limited utility as contamination indicators due to their ever-changing nature (Noori et al., Desalination 2010;260(1–3):129–136). Sediments have been found to be a more reliable and valid indicator of water contamination level. Sediment contamination with heavy metals (HMs) has captured the concern and scholarly attention of many developing countries around the world such as Iran (Nafchi and Chamani, Mar Pollut Bull 2019;149:110494; Zonta et al. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 2019; Alahabadi and Malvandi, Mar Pollut Bull 2018;133:741–749; Bagheri and Azimi, J Oceanogr 2015;6(21):27–36; Bahador et al., J Mar Sci Technol 2017;16(3):56–71; Delshab et al., Mar Pollut Bull 2017;115(1):401–411; Haghshenas et al., J Environ Health Eng 2018;5(4):359–374; Shabankareh et al., Environ Earth Sci 2018;77(3):101). Zayandeh-Rood River is the only permanent river in the central plateau of Iran. This river has been subject to an extensive discharge of wastewater and effluents from several points and nonpoint pollution sources. The objectives of the present study were to (1) investigate the Pb and Cd concentrations in surface sediments of the Zayandeh Rud River; (2) compare the resulting Pb and Cd concentrations in sediment with global standards; and (3) assess the contamination level and ecological environmental risk of HMs adopting a number of contamination indices such as bioaccumulation factor, Muller geochemical index (Muller, GeoJournal 1969;2:108–118), contamination degree (Hakanson, Water Res 1980;14(8):975–1001), modified contamination degree, and potential ecological risk index (RI) (Jafarabadi et al., Chemosphere 2017;185:1090–1111). The sediment was sampled through 3 replications at 12 stations along the Zayandeh-Rood river. The mean concentrations of Cd outweighed those of ISQG standards (0.6 mg/kg) while the mean concentration of Pb was within the acceptable ranges of ISQG standard (35 mg/kg). The results of Muller index indicated that all Cd concentrations measured in this research fell within the Moderate/Heavy pollution groups while the concentration of Pb was in the range of Unpolluted/Moderate pollution groups. Cd values showed low/moderate degree at stations 1–6 and Considerable degree at stations 7–12. mCd values showed high and very high degrees of pollution in the studied stations except 1, 2, 3 and 5. CF values of Cd has a considerable and very high degree whereas those of Pb were Moderate. The RI showed low ecological risk at stations 1 and 2, Moderate ecological risk at stations 3, 4 and 5, Considerable ecological risk at station 6 and very high ecological risk at stations 7–12. A significant rise was observed in the level of river pollutants and ecological risk in the downstream of Isfahan City, especially after the wastewater treatment plant (stations 7–12) where any water withdrawal for agricultural and livestock purposes significantly elevates the risk of food-chain contamination with HMs.
... Nevertheless, groundwater is also owned as private property by farmers in order to irrigate their fields. The irrigators use a certain volume of water assigned by the Government and pump up the water from the aquifers for their private use (Nikouei and Ward 2013). This private use of groundwater requires a registration to the Ministry of Energy that delivers the authorizations to pump the water (ICARDA 2017), in order to control the implementation of wells. ...
... In Iran, water bodies are public property according to Article 1 of the Nationalization of Water Resources ratified in 1968 (Alasti 2013). It has been admitted by Iranian scientists that water pricing might increase water use efficiency, especially in agriculture (Esmaeili and Vazirzadeh 2009;Nikouei and Ward 2013;Ehsani and Marani 2016;Collins 2017). Indeed, water is almost free for farmers who only pay for maintenance, gasoil, electricity, and equipment for pumping groundwater (Nikouei and Ward 2013). ...
... It has been admitted by Iranian scientists that water pricing might increase water use efficiency, especially in agriculture (Esmaeili and Vazirzadeh 2009;Nikouei and Ward 2013;Ehsani and Marani 2016;Collins 2017). Indeed, water is almost free for farmers who only pay for maintenance, gasoil, electricity, and equipment for pumping groundwater (Nikouei and Ward 2013). Groundwater was supposed to be charged between 0.25% and 1% of the cultivated crop value, but the Parliament Law of 2004 stated that groundwater is free of charge. ...
A major challenge for any dryland country affected by climate change, like Iran, is exploring the ways to cope with low and scattered precipitation while conserving fragile ecosystems. Extensive extraction of underground water and frequent severe droughts have compounded water scarcity both temporally and spatially. Therefore, the relevant important questions remain at the national level: what sort of strategies would be effective to tackle land degradation and water shortage simultaneously; to what extent, the implemented approaches have been efficient to address the concerns; and how new national policies reduce the pressure on water and soil resources. This article will portray the real contemporary situation of water resources in Iran and answer these pivotal questions and concerns. The methodology will be based on a thorough literature review while employing reliable data and statistics to fortify the discussions.
... Agriculture, in the sense of the ways and means of utilizing water and soil resources and energy, etc. in order to meet the needs of food and clothing of human beings has always been and is the basis of many economic, social, political and cultural developments throughout history (Chatterjee et al., 2016). Considering the vast territory of Iran and that the current Iranian cropping pattern is influenced by past practices and mainly based on existing water and soil resources, and some of the economic advantages (Nikouei and Ward, 2013). Considering the changing climate and economic uncompetitive conditions, there are challenges in producing some products which must be resolved through changing the annual cropping pattern (Manos et al., 2010). ...
... Isfahan province is located in arid and semiarid central area of Iran, which has always been influenced by drought phenomenon. The expansion of irrigated lands through the construction of irrigation networks and industrial development in Isfahan province consumes a considerable amount of water resources (Nikouei and Ward, 2013). Inappropriate spatial and temporal distribution of atmospheric precipitation and runoff shortage during the consumption seasons led to a situation where water needs of the province were mainly met through the excavation of aqueducts and deep and semi-deep wells (Shafiee and Safamehr, 2011). ...
... Various studies carried out in the province over the last few years also indicate that the balance of water resources for agricultural purposes cannot be achieved through the development of water saving systems alone (Nikouei and Ward, 2013;Nikouei et al., 2012;Sabouhi and Mardani, 2013). ...
... The present study aims to investigate the role of water-supply timing in improving irrigation water productivity in one of the most vulnerable districts in the Zayandeh-Rud basin; Roudasht, the most downstream irrigation district in the river basin, which is currently faced with a water crisis (Nikouei and Ward, 2013). In our analysis, we apply a modified version of PMP model, to assess how reduced quantities and changes in the timing of water supply influences the choice of crops for cultivation and hence the irrigation water productivity and the farm revenue. ...
... Making decisions about water supply and distribution from the reservoir to the irrigation network during different months is a challenging issue for the managers of the water authorities in the Zayandeh-Rud basin. Some experts have suggested that reallocating the water supply over the year may result in higher water productivity of agricultural production in the Zayandeh-Rud Basin by allowing farmers to react to alternative water supply practices (Nikouei and Ward, 2013;Gohari et al., 2014). Redesigning the allocation of water may lead to reduced water use in some months of the year. ...
The present study investigates alternative scenarios of timing and reduced water supply in terms of their impacts on agricultural land use, farm revenue and food crop production. It aims to evaluate the implications for the development of different farming systems in one of the most water-scarce irrigation districts in the Zayandeh-Rud River Basin in central Iran, the Roudasht irrigation district. A modified version of Positive Mathematical Programming (PMP) model was used to assess the scenarios. The results from the scenario simulations illustrate that there is substantial potential for improving the management of the limited water supply in the Roudasht irrigation network to reach higher water productivity, agricultural output and gross margins from agricultural activities. A management plan to target a limit in the irrigation water supply only for the month of peak demand, e.g. 60% to 80% of the baseline water supply for May in Roudasht, may have less adverse effects than planning to limit the annual water supply by the same amount but without specifying the monthly timing of the water supply. These results highlight the relevance and impact of the timing of water supply when devising adaptive measures related to the irrigation water supply.
... Still, water pricing has not been promoted effectively as a practice for adaptation to drought. A study in Iran (Nikouei & Ward, 2013) evaluated costs and benefits of irrigation water pricing looking at two different water supply scenarios (with and without pricing): a typical scenario equal to 100% of the long-term average water supply trend and equal to the year-to-year variance in stochastic historical inflow (Normal Supply); a restricted drought scenario, also using stochastic inflows, but comparable to 50% of longterm average supplies (Restricted Supply) ( Table 6). In the absence of irrigation water pricing (baseline), farmers are penalized in terms of cost-benefit returns. ...
The need to define and implement adaptation solutions has emerged since the early 1990s when the IPCC started assessing the changes, causes, potential impacts and responses to climate change. Yet, limited information exists on the context-specific effectiveness of local adaptation of agronomic practices. The Near East and North Africa (NENA) region is one of the world’s regions with the lowest per capita natural resources availability and one of the most vulnerable to climate change. For these reasons, there is an urgent need to improve the development and implementation of adaptation plans and actions to cope with climate change. This research implements the systematic review (SR) methodology to assess the scientific literature in adopting climate change adaptation practices for agriculture at the farm level in the NENA region. Results highlight a significant knowledge gap in adaptation in the region and recommend intensifying targeted research and funding to cope with urgent regional climate risks to rural and agricultural livelihoods.
... Therefore, they prevent the agriculture sector from shifting toward more efficient and productive practices [agricultural practices]. As a result, despite the existence of severe water scarcity in the basin, about 90 % of its cultivated area is still supplied with water by flood irrigation [irrigation system] (Nikouei and Ward, 2013;Shahdany et al., 2018). The irrigation water storage and distribution networks are mostly open and uncovered canals and there is no infrastructure to gather, treat and redistribute marginal quality water in farms [storage and distribution system]. ...
... Consequently, dam construction, deep-well drilling and development of irrigation practices are used to support increased water consumption and agricultural production. Water use in agriculture accounts for more than 75% of water consumption worldwide (Oweis 2005, Biswas 2007, Nikouei and Ward 2013. Although the use of surface water is a higher priority for water resources decisionmakers, farmers often favour groundwater (GW) because it is locally available, shows less spatial variation to surface water (SW), requires minimal conveyance structures and often relaxes the need for long planning horizons. ...
In semi-arid regions, reduced river flows present is a major challenge in water resources management. We present a new standardized contribution of rainfall to runoff index (SCRI) for evaluating changes in rainfall contribution to river flow. We employ the standardized precipitation index (SPI), standardized discharge index (SDI) and SCRI to characterize meteorological drought, hydrological drought and land-use change impacts on river flow, respectively. These indices are applied to the Mond River Basin (Iran), which is regulated by the Salman Farsi and Tangab dams since 2006. A new concept called ‘mirage water’ is proposed that represents the reduced water delivery to downstream areas due to new developments and water withdrawals in headwater tributaries. In particular, mirage water accounts for changes in upstream water consumption between the planning phase and construction/operation life of dams. We recommend that this concept be used for communication with decision makers and managers to clarify the need for revising dimensions of planned dams.
... On the other hand, low water prices involve public losses due to public budget deficits (Fragoso and Marques, 2015 Q10 ). This shows that water pricing must be considered in a way that ensures a compromise in terms of economic efficiency, cost recovery, equity and resource conservation (Diakité et al., 2009 Q11 ;Nikouei and Ward, 2013). Furthermore, impact assessment of natural resources policies should also consider environmental and social impacts in addition to economic ones. ...
en In Algeria, the management of water based on a strategy of supply and subsidies continues to be applied even as the resource becomes increasingly scarce. The demand for water in Algeria continues to grow, creating an imbalance between the available water resources and uses. In this context, the state has progressively implemented irrigation water management policies, including pricing, which aims to manage demand while reducing the water price subsidy. In this article we will study the effectiveness of some water management instruments implemented in the large irrigation perimeters and offer some perspectives to improve the management of the demand for irrigation water. To do so, we investigate the effect of different water pricing and irrigation quota scenarios on changing farmers' behaviour in terms of irrigation water demand. We developed a positive mathematical programming model based on farmers' surveys and typology in a public irrigated scheme (Jijel–Taher located in northern Algeria). Two types of scenarios were simulated, including: (i) increasing volumetric prices of irrigation water in the studied irrigated areas; (ii) decreasing water quota scenarios allocated to the farmers. As expected, results show that increasing water prices may lead to a decreasing demand for irrigation water. However, this decrease in water demand only became significant at very high prices. We also found that a price of 12.5 DZD m‾³ (about 0.11 US$ m‾³), corresponding to the government production cost of water, can easily be implemented in the study area without substantial effects on farmers' gross margin. Then, water pricing does not represent a water demand management tool, but rather a tool to finance management infrastructures. Simulations also show that decreasing water quotas may lead to a decrease of irrigated areas, change in cropping patterns, and to a significant loss of farmers' gross margins for quotas below 2600 m³ ha‾¹. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Résumé
fr En Algérie, la gestion de l'eau basée sur une stratégie reposant sur l'offre et les subventions continue d'être appliquée même quand la ressource devient de plus en plus rare. La demande en eau en Algérie continue de croître, créant un déséquilibre entre les ressources disponibles et les besoins. Dans ce contexte, l'État a progressivement mis en œuvre des politiques de gestion de l'eau d'irrigation, y compris la tarification, qui vise à gérer la demande tout en réduisant la subvention des prix de l'eau. Dans cet article, nous étudierons l'efficacité de certains instruments de gestion de l'eau mis en œuvre dans les grands périmètres d'irrigation et donnerons quelques perspectives pour améliorer la gestion de la demande d'eau d'irrigation. Pour ce faire, nous étudions l'effet de différents scénarios de tarification de l'eau et de quotas d'irrigation sur l'ajustement du comportement des agriculteurs en termes de demande d'eau d'irrigation. Nous avons développé un modèle de programmation mathématique positif basé sur les enquêtes et la typologie des exploitations d'un grand périmètre irrigué situé dans la région de Jijel au nord‐est de l'Algérie. Deux types de scénarios ont été simulés, dont: i) l'augmentation des prix volumétriques de l'eau d'irrigation dans le périmètre irrigué étudié; ii) la réduction des quotas d'eau élaborée sur la base des pratiques actuelles d'allocation de l'eau dans la région. Comme prévu, les résultats montrent que l'augmentation des prix de l'eau peut entraîner une diminution de la demande d'eau d'irrigation. Toutefois, cette diminution de la demande en eau n'est devenue importante qu'à des prix très élevés. Nous avons également constaté qu'un prix de 12.5 DZD m‾³ (environ 0.11 US$ m‾³), qui correspondant au coût de revient du m³ d'eau, peut facilement être mis en œuvre dans la zone d'étude sans effets significatifs sur la marge brute des agriculteurs. La tarification de l'eau ne représente donc pas un outil de gestion de la demande en eau, mais plutôt un outil de financement des infrastructures de gestion. Les simulations montrent également que la diminution des quotas d'eau peut entraîner une baisse des superficies irriguées, un changement dans les cultures pratiquées, et une perte significative de la marge brute des agriculteurs pour des quotas inférieurs à 2600 m³ ha‾¹. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... Damming has caused serious environmental problems, such as deteriorating water quality and increasing land desertification and salinization. It has been reported that over two-thirds of Iran's land is rapidly turning into desert as a consequence of environmentally unmanaged damming projects [21]. ...
Iran’s focus on food self-sufficiency has led to an emphasis on increasing water volumes available for irrigation with little attention to water use efficiency, and no attention at all to the role of consumption and trade. To better understand the development of water consumption in relation to food production, consumption, and trade, we carried out the first comprehensive water footprint assessment (WFA) for Iran, for the period 1980–2010, and estimated the water saving per province associated with interprovincial and international crop trade. Based on the AquaCrop model, we estimated the green and blue water footprint (WF) related to both the production and consumption of 26 crops, per year and on a daily basis, for 30 provinces of Iran. We find that, in the period 1980–2010, crop production increased by 175%, the total WF of crop production by 122%, and the blue WF by 20%. The national population grew by 92%, and the crop consumption per capita by 20%, resulting in a 130% increase in total food consumption and a 110% increase in the total WF of national crop consumption. In 2010, 26% of the total water consumption in the semi-arid region served the production of crops for export to other regions within Iran (mainly cereals) or abroad (mainly fruits and nuts). Iran’s interprovincial virtual water trade grew by a factor of 1.6, which was mainly due to increased interprovincial trade in cereals, nuts, and fruits. Current Iranian food and water policy could be enriched by reducing the WFs of crop production to certain benchmark levels per crop and climatic region and aligning cropping patterns to spatial differences in water availability and productivities, and by paying due attention to the increasing food consumption per capita in Iran.
... Furthermore, Galioto et al. [30] suggested, with the use of asymmetric information, the effective implementation of discriminatory water cost strategies similar to real prices, but obtaining changes in water consumption. On the other hand, in Iran, Nikouei and Ward [31] determined an inelastic demand curve for the application of additional costs to water consumption, with important impacts on the modernization of irrigation systems on the way to their improved efficiency. Liu et al. [32] conclude that water blocks can be considered an option towards water conservation in developing countries, but that, in order to be applicable, they depend on the design of the scales' levels and structure of the instrument's tariffs. ...
The institutional reform of the State established in Ecuador during the last decade has aimed at regaining control of specific sectors such as the consumptive use of water. Since 2014, regulation, consumption, and use of water, especially in agriculture, have been analyzed through policies and fiscal instruments. This research presents itself in the context of the simulation of scenarios using positive mathematical programming, to analyze the economic impact of pricing policies on agro-food farms. Policies of fixed costs, water blocks, and volumetric prices are evaluated. The results show that the existing fixed costs do not reduce water consumption. In contrast, the scenarios of water blocks and volumetric prices impact on the behavior of farmers. The tendency of water consumption to the application of volumetric prices demonstrates that banana farms have a greater tolerance to the increase of water costs. On the other hand, the response to an increase in cost in the case of cacao, sugar cane, and rice depends on the productivity of farmers. The negative effects can lead to the abandonment of agriculture. Thus, volumetric policies are more efficient in reducing water consumption as well as in recovering the costs of the irrigation system.
... Methods for this additional work have been addressed by others. For instance, Nikouie and Ward (2013) address the competing social values of irrigation for subsistence farming and irrigation for commercial crop production, and related issues of efficiency and justice. ...
Responsible application of finite resources to infinite needs means that proposals for irrigation improvement must be weighed and assessed. The assessment requires an understanding of the changes in flux, and the social, ecological and economic effect of such changes. This paper is focused on evaluation of changes in flux, not discounting the vital components of weighing the implications of the changes. A useful criterion for the assessment of the flux implications of improvements to irrigation efficiency is the net effect to basin water supplies. The flux assessment can be performed with four necessary and sufficient exercises: (1) Consider irrigator response to the change; (2) Close the water budget on all changes in flux resulting from the irrigator response; (3) Consider the economic rivalry effects of the changes in flux; (4) Quantify changes in supply to all affected participants. This paper focuses on the effect that these four factors have upon water flow, with the implicit assumption that flow impacts ecosystem services, private user benefits, and social equity. Knowledge of changes in flow is a necessary but not a sufficient input to the evaluation of these factors. Irrigator response can be assessed based on an assumption of rational profit-maximizing behavior, and on the legal and social bases of water use. Closing the water budget can be performed using methods found in an extensive literature describing evaporation, transpiration, irrigation requirements, irrigation efficiency, and the various fates of the non-consumed fraction of field-applied irrigation water. The physical effects of irrigation improvements can be further partitioned using the concepts of economic rivalry. The framework presented allows policy makers to evaluate the effects that improvements will have not only upon the improved water use and the new use to which “saved” water will be devoted, but also to the secondary effects and beyond, upon human uses or ecosystem services that currently rely upon the “waste” stream resulting from nominally inefficient application and use. While it is acknowledged that evaluation of ecosystem services requires greater knowledge of ecosystem functions than is available in many basins, at least this framework calls attention to the services and provides a quantification of the flux of water delivered to them.
... Dr. Shahrbanou Madadgar [10], [16], [19], [23], [35], [83], [116] closely related to each other and a particular drought may extend from one type to another [18]. ...
Copula functions are a group of multivariate distribution functions that join the marginal
distribution of multiple variables. They have been used in different fields of science and
engineering during the past decades. The main advantage of copulas over other multivariate
distribution functions is their flexible structure in choosing marginal distributions. They are also
strongly capable to characterize the joint behavior of dependent random variables. The focus of
this chapter is on the application of copula functions in hydrology, specifically in predicting
drought events. The first application explains how copulas can help to identify the multivariate
return period (i.e. conditional and joint return periods) of drought events with particular duration,
severity, and intensity under climate change impacts. The second application involves in drought
forecasting at seasonal and multi-seasonal lead times. The copula-based drought forecasting
model is a conditional model given the past observation of drought status. The forecast model
can provide the decision makers with probability maps of drought events and useful information
on drought recovery in forecast season. Copulas have demonstrated appealing performance in
hydrological applications and it is expected to witness their more applications in the future.
... Water rights are determined on the basis of one of the following: (i) riparian rights linking ownership of water to proprietorship of land; (ii) public allocation based on priorities determined by the government, and; (iii) allocations based on historical rights (Johansson et al. 2002;Nikouei and Ward 2013;Dogra et al. 2014). Water allocation has three pillar effects on supply and use: (i) suggests evidence that efficiency of water use intensified the discussion between policies makers and projects planners taking away smallholders of water use rights; (ii) expert-driven water policy and project notions of systems efficiency that tend to interfere with existing local water management practices and may cause damages to livelihood, production strategies, and; (iii) water users might blame themselves for underachieving according to the standards that are established in the dominant power-knowledge structures (Vos and Boelens 2014). ...
The aim of this study was to test the local small-scale treatment of grey water (mainly shower water) of a sports centre to be reused for recreational irrigation. Due to the low organic load which limits the growth and aggregation of biomass, a membrane bioreactor (MBR) was selected for this purpose. A pilot-scale system was operated and studied for more than 1 year in the conduct of this task. The MBR process proved to be a very efficient biological treatment stage, producing superior effluents with low BOD5, NH4+ and TSS. Detergents and COD were degraded efficiently and the effluents did not contain total coliforms and faecal coliforms. Due to the low organic load, biomass accumulation was very slow and the system could reach and function at relatively low mixed liquid suspended solid (MLSS) levels. The MBR ultrafiltration module thus was able to produce a steady permeate flux for more than 1 year just with air scouring and without membrane backwash or chemical regenerating. Another important advantage was the minimal requirement for excess sludge wastage.
... 10 For more information on farmland characteristics see Nikouei and Ward (2012 According to Fred Pearce there are winners and losers in the agricultural process of adapting the farms to less water availability and of water allocation during the last 15 years: "Bigger, politically better connected farmers won. Small farmers and the old-age water distribution arrangements lost." ...
This report presents and justifies data regarding agriculture in the Zayandeh Rud Basin in Iran
used in the German-Iranian Research Project “Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in Isfahan”. Ist aim is to describe the current status of scientific knowledge on agriculture in the river basin and to serve as a
database for the Water Management Tool (WMT) developed by other project partners. Hence, the primary goal of the report at hand is to deliver comprehensible basic data (cultivated area, crops and orchards) for the WMT and its future application. The study is based on data received by close collaboration with (1) local institutions like Isfahan Regional Water Company and the Agriculture Organization Isfahan, as well as (2) Interviews with
farmers from the Western and Eastern part of the catchment and local experts of water management and agriculture and (3)a continuously literature review of articles and reports concerning the Zayandeh Rud catchment in Iran.
... Water rights are determined on the basis of one of the following: (i) riparian rights linking ownership of water to proprietorship of land; (ii) public allocation based on priorities determined by the government, and; (iii) allocations based on historical rights (Johansson et al. 2002;Nikouei and Ward 2013;Dogra et al. 2014). Water allocation has three pillar effects on supply and use: (i) suggests evidence that efficiency of water use intensified the discussion between policies makers and projects planners taking away smallholders of water use rights; (ii) expert-driven water policy and project notions of systems efficiency that tend to interfere with existing local water management practices and may cause damages to livelihood, production strategies, and; (iii) water users might blame themselves for underachieving according to the standards that are established in the dominant power-knowledge structures (Vos and Boelens 2014). ...
A model examining the National Water Wealth (NWW) and its allocation between the municipal sector and the agricultural sector, where water value is defined as the present value of Water Rights, is presented. Five factors are considered: (i) uncertainty of water supply; (ii) population growth rate; (iii) the effect of time on NWW without new water production; (iv) agency costs, and; (v) production of new waters. The work is based on the model by Jensen and Meckling (J Finance Econ. 3:305-360, 1976), dealing with the effects of agency costs on the value of public companies. Agency costs are subject to conflicting interests between managers, shareholders and bondholders. In the water economy agency, costs stem from a divergence of interests between the government, the agricultural and the municipal sectors. Uncertainty of supply reduces water wealth of both sectors, with a stronger adverse impact on water wealth of the agricultural sector. Our model shows how production of new waters can have contributive effects on national water wealth. The modeling demonstrates the option of reducing the overall uncertainty of water supply and production of new waters which leads to favorable effects on the national water wealth.
This study introduces a multi-objective programming model for identifying a cropping pattern to evaluate the feasibility of increasing net profit, reducing water use, and diminishing the environmental impacts, simultaneously, under life cycle assessment (LCA). The research uses data collected in 2016-2017 through a survey in the east of the Lorestan Province of Iran. Results indicate that the multi-objective cropping pattern reduces environmental indicators, including water consumption by 1%, global warming potential by 14%, and nonrenewable energy use by 14%, with no change in farms’ net profit compared to the current pattern in the region. The findings reveal that a designed cropping pattern under the constraints and objectives of LCA not only minimizes the environmental impacts, but also considers the stability of the benefits in the long term. However, the currently applied cropping pattern by farmers only focuses on achieving short-term profit-oriented goals. A new approach to land allocation is necessary to produce crops with a reduction in water consumption, non-renewable energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions in the region. In this regard, it is essential to consider the policies that reduce available water and non-renewable resources into government decisions. On the other hand, policy incentives or disincentives, developing support packages of crop pricing, insurance and facilities support to prevent the cultivation of crops with high water demand and fertilizer are also essential. This proposed planning model should be used as the foundation for long-term cropping pattern planning policies in other irrigated and rainfed farming systems around the world.
This study aims to analyze the effects of local water market formation in a limited region of the Gavkhuni Basin, located in the center of Iran. An economic optimization mathematical model, called ‘inter-sectoral water exchanges programming’ (IWEP), is developed to address the study objectives. The proposed model seeks to maximize the net benefit of participating agents in the water market mechanism. This model can determine the scope of production activities and the monthly volume of water exchange through different technical methods of water transfer. Results demonstrate that the agriculture sector contributes to an increase in the productions of the agriculture industries and building industries through selling its surplus water. Although farm agents sell only 1% of their groundwater permits to industrial agents, the total net benefit of the agents is increased by more than 30%, compared to when the water market is not implemented. The shared aquifer method, based on common pool groundwater resources, is identified as a suitable technical method for water transfer in the groundwater markets. Finally, the socio-hydrological analysis of groundwater exchanges reveals that the inter-sectoral water market at the local scale can increase the region's employment rate by 45% and mitigate more pressure on the aquifer to meet water demands in the industry sector. These results clarify the efficient role of market-based groundwater allocation approach under water scarcity conditions.
بروز چالشهای اخیر در وضعیت منابع آبی حوضه آبریز زایندهرود، منجر به آن گردیده است که زایندهرود نیز از آلودگی آب در امان نماند و تامین آب با کیفیت مناسب به عنوان یک چالش اساسی در این حوضه محسوب گردد. از اینرو ارائه یک الگوی کشت هدفمند از طریق کاهش اثرات جانبی آلودگی مصرف آب ناشی از فعالیتهای کشاورزی برای حوضه آبریز رودخانه زایندهرود میتواند نقش موثری در مدیریت کمی و کیفی منابع آب حوضه ایفا نماید. برای این منظور مدل شبیهسازی هیدرولوژیکی (مدل WEAP) با مدل بهینهیابی اقتصادی تلفیق و در مرحلهی بعد، اثرات جانبی آلودگی آب با استفاده از مدل SWAT شبیهسازی و بهعنوان ورودی و یک محدودیت زیستمحیطی به مدل یکپارچه سطح حوضه اضافه شده است. دادههاي مورد نياز اين الگو به سه شيوه تحقيق پيمايشي، مطالعات و گزارشات اسنادي و استفاده از نظرات کارشناسان و خبرگان طی سالهای آماری 91-1390 جمع آوري شد. نتایج پارامترهای هیدرولوژیکی در الگوی بهینه اقتصادی نشان داد که میتوان با بکارگیری سیاستهای حفاظت منابع آب، اثرات تغییر اقلیم در منطقه را تعدیل بخشید. همچنین مقایسه الگوی بهینه اقتصادی و اقتصادی-زیستی نشان داد که میتوان ضمن بهبود بازده برنامهای به میزان 12 میلیون ریال، میزان تلفات نیترات کمتر از حد مجاز در سطح حوضه را تحقق بخشید.
Metabolomics, can be defined as little molecule -omics. Nowadays, the elucidation of the molecular mechanism of any disease with genome analysis
and proteome analysis is not sufficient. Instead of these, a holistic assessment including metabolomic studies provides rational and accurate results.
The application of metabolomics includes the identification of biomarkers, enzyme-substract interactions, drug-activity studies, metabolic pathway
analysis and some other studies related with the system biology. Metabolomics is the cheap and correct separation, definition and measurement of all
metabolites in cells, tissues or biological fluids in short amounts of time with high throughput technologies such as NMR, GC-MS and LC-MS. It is the
quantitative measurement of the metabolic profile of the living being to characterize the genetics and the phenotypic response to nutritional status of it.
Data comprehensive approach with the ability to collect high volume quantities, aims to improve our understanding of health and disease, nutrition and
food role. The aim of this review; is to emphasize some potential applications of metabolomics in food and nutrition research, to investigate the effects
of metabolomics on nutrition and to present scientific literature on these subjects.
Keywords : Metabolomics, food, nutrition
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Botanical origin and antibacterial activity of Hedysarum coronarium and Citrus honey against Pseudomonas aeroginosae, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumonia
Messaouda BELAID *1, Arezki MOHAMMEDI 1, Salima KEBBOUCHE-GANA 1, Fatma ACHEUK 1,Nora CHAHBAR 1 AND Malika ABBAD-BENNOUR 2
1. Laboratory of Valorisation and conservation of biological resources (VALCOR). Faculty of Sciences, University M’Hamed Bougara of Boumerdes, Algeria
2. Faculty of Biological and Agricultural Sciences Mouloud Mammeri of Tizi Ouzou, Algeria
*Corresponding author: belaidfo@yahoo.fr
ABSTRACT
Honey has always been regarded as a food which is advantageous for one’s health and as a product which has healing qualities. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the antibacterial activity of Hedysarum coronarium and Citrus honey against Pseudomonas aeroginosae, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumonia. To test the antibacterial activity, the agar well diffusion methods was employed. For the palynological analysis, we used the methodology proposed by Louveaux et al (1978); a minimum of 1200 pollen grains was counted par sample. Commonly, monofloral honeys were made up of nectar belonging to a single plant in an extent of at least 45%. These were general guidelines but many pollen types were under represented (such Citrus honey) or over represented (for example Eucalyptus honey). The results showed that the Citrus honey exhibited the highest inhibition against Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeroginosae comparatively of the Hedysarum coronarium honey.
Keywords: Hedysarum coronarium Honey, Citrus honey, pollen analysis, antibacterial activity
Iranian water authority has recently announced that one of the effective ways to avoid unprecedented high water consumption in Iran’s agriculture sector is to increase water price. This paper analyzes the feasibility of this policy by using a hydro-economic approach with the aim to consider the role of water pricing in agricultural water management. Such an analysis was conducted through comparing price of water consumed for producing selected agricultural crops (i.e. wheat, sugar beets, onion, tomato, barley, potato, corn, alfalfa hay and watermelon) in a case study on two provinces (East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan) in Iran to that in the state of California (CA) in the USA. According to the paper, the method uses the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) Index for the first time to analyze the water prices of agricultural crops in the case study due to the specific regional circumstances in the Case Study (i.e. severe fluctuations and continuously changing currency) that prevent using the norm of Nominal Exchange Rate Index (NERI). The results show there is no significant difference between the water price for producing the selected crops in West Azarbaijan (W.AZ) and East Azarbaijan (E.AZ) provinces and that in the state of California if PPP Index is applied. Water price for producing each kilogram of some crops such as wheat, sugar beet, onion and watermelon (except potato and barley) is estimated to be between 60–80 percent of that in the state of California. However, this ratio is ironically equal to 116% for alfalfa hay and 105% for corn. As a result, considering the obtained results, one may realize that the whole problem can be hardly attributed to the low price of agricultural water in our case study and raising agricultural water price would never be effective for reducing water consumption in the studied area unless price adjustment accompanies developing necessary infrastructures. Unlike the views that advocate raising water prices, there are two distinct views: The first declares that agricultural water should be free of charge to the farmers because it returns to the hydrological cycle. The second view stipulates that instead of raising water prices in agriculture sector, the cost of water supply for agriculture should be reduced by new technologies. It is advised that before adjusting agricultural water price, institutional reforms are required based on the experiences of other countries and establishing local water distribution cooperatives.
A water price increase has been used as an effective method to guarantee national water security and maintain national food security in China. The reasonableness of the water price has a direct influence on people's attitude, behavioural decision regarding willingness to pay, and motivation for water conservation. A double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation method was used to assess the impact of integrated agricultural water price reform on farmers' willingness to pay for irrigation water in northwest China. The estimated mean willingness to pay in the study area was 0.144 RMB/m³. A comparison showed that higher education and longer experience in farming were likely to result in a higher willingness to pay in the study area. Participants who had a higher awareness of water price reform showed a higher likelihood of agreeing to higher bidding. Those who thought the current water price was lower had a higher willingness to pay for irrigation water. Participants who considered agricultural water resources to be scarce in the area also had a higher willingness to pay. In contrast, the bidding variables were negative and significant at the 1% level, showing that participants were more inclined to reject a higher bid. Meanwhile, the older the participant, the less they were willing to pay. An unintended finding was that participants' willingness to pay decreased if they chose to use water-saving technology. One possible explanation was that the investment in the construction of the infrastructure (such as pipes and pumps) may have exacerbated farmers' burden and may not have resulted in any benefits to them. Based on the results of this paper, a related optimization policy was presented for water price reform.
The water availability in Kazakhstan is 37000[U+202F]m³[U+202F]per[U+202F]one[U+202F]km² and 3650[U+202F]m³ per capita a year, an amount that is lower than the world average (around 6000[U+202F]m³) (Knoema, 2016). It is expected that water availability falls to 2300[U+202F]m³ per capita in a year by 2030 (). Water pollution is a further problem for exploiting available water resources. In fact, 50-70% of surface water resources in Kazakhstan have been rated "polluted" and "highly polluted" in terms of ecological status (ICSD, 2016). Apart from that, water use efficiency remains very low. The average efficiency of canal water delivery systems is only 15-20% compared to 70-90% in most developed countries (). A number of institutional and policy measures have been implemented to enhance the sustainability of water resource use and water security; however, the country is still facing a number of problems of water use in a sustainable manner. This study provides stakeholders' assessment of the critical factors that affect the sustainable management of water resources in Kazakhstan. The study rests on the results from the interviews that are further examined using the SWOC approach (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Challenges) and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique. The study demonstrates and prioritizes 32 critical SWOC factors relevant to the sustainable management of water resources in Kazakhstan. The study also determines four key stakeholder groups with differing opinions regarding the SWOC factors, which could potentially impact final policy implementation. Creating a comprehensive regulatory framework alongside decentralising water management from state water authorities to community-based water-user associations as well as investment to innovative irrigation technologies are likely to contribute towards a more equitable and efficient water distribution.
Within the past decade, the utilization of river flows by dams and affiliate networks in the industrial, agricultural, and urban sectors has resulted in the critical status of Urmia Lake and the reduced incoming water flow. A major portion of this crisis pertains to social dimensions. The six meters decrease of the Urmia Lake’s plane within the last 13 years makes the need for nation’s determination for saving this critical ecosystem, clear. With the lake’ drought we will face the province to be desert, the soil to be salty, inexistence of plantation and destruction of the green province of Azarbaijan. Therefore million gallons of the lakes salt will unsafe the environment of the evolved area through salty dusts and therefore will destroy agricultural lands and gardens. This study aimed to analyze the role of agricultural extension in reducing water conflicts in the catchment area of Urmia Lake by means of POET model. In this regard, the following research questions are proposed. 1. What organizations and sectors encounter conflicts regarding water utilization in the catchment area of Urmia Lake? 2. What are the dimensions of water conflict in this area? 3. Can agricultural extension, as an intervening factor, contribute to the reduction of water conflicts over Urmia Lake? The result of this study showed that the most important water conflict is between water stakeholders and the government and the best solution of this conflict deals with transferring from governmentality to governance.
Keywords: Water conflicts, Urmia Lake, Agricultural extension, Compatibility.
With a share of more than 90%, agriculture is the main water using sector in the Zayandeh Rud catchment. At the same time, agriculture is highly important from a socio-economical perspective, as it employs around 20% of the citizens on mainly small, family-owned farms. Irrigation practices, however, are generally not water efficient, leading to severe problems in the face of decreasing water availability while in turn contributing to water stress in the region. A transformation of the agricultural sector seems therefore inevitable. In order to develop adaptive and effective transformation measures, it is necessary to understand the main parameters, like the location and extent of cultivated and irrigated areas, types of cultivated crops and orchards, the sources of irrigation water and applied irrigation methods, the crop calendar and crop specific data for computing the crop water requirements. Within the IWRM Zayandeh Rud project, these data were compiled and analysed and provide the basis for an agricultural transformation strategy in the Zayandeh Rud catchment that is currently under development.
The main objective of this study is to estimate the welfare values related to sustained water flows in the Zayandeh-Rud River for recreational and cultural amenities in the urban park of Isfahan City in Iran. As is elsewhere the case in arid regions, the drying up of the river due to growing water demand and the increasingly constrained water supply as a result of climate change and more frequent droughts is expected to result in a substantial welfare loss. A double-bounded discrete choice elicitation format is applied in a stated choice survey conducted among local residents and nonresidential visitors, focusing on distance-decay and the relationship between income and demand for sustained water flows in publicly provided urban space under climate change. We reject the general finding in the literature that visitors living further away are willing to pay more for unique sites. We show that the recreational services provided by the park can be characterized as a normal economic good for which those living closer by are willing to pay more than those living further away. These results provide an important benchmark for future stated preference research related to welfare valuation of water in urban open space under climate change.
Utilizing economic instruments, especially water pricing, is a useful strategy in the management of water demand. In this study, water pricing policies along with incentive strategies through subsidies to farmers are implemented and simulated for improving the efficient use of water. To determine the crop pattern configuration and water allocation schemes, a genetic algorithm (GA) based optimization model is developed to obtain the potential maximum net benefit. The economic value of water is obtained using a combination of mathematical programming and residual methods within an optimal framework. In this model, water prices increase at the same time that subsidies are given to farmers to encourage them to use efficient irrigation technologies. Results indicate that implementation of this scenario increases the net benefit to US$249.3 million per year, which is 40% higher than the current historical value. Because of the efficiency improvements in the use of water, the economic value of water increases from US$0.133=m3 to US 0.178=m3. The results demonstrate the significant effects of water pricing policies on persuading consumers to reduce their water consumption.
Irrigation systems constantly experience new developments, and decision makers are always concerned with their efficient management. Routine maintenance must be performed to ensure that the system fulfills the functions for which it was designed. Irrigation systems include many subsystems and to ensure proper functioning, a maintenance plan should be followed. System failures can have negative consequences for irrigated crops. This study demonstrates the implementation of RCM (reliability-centered maintenance) in an irrigation system for a real-world case. By implementing RCM in an irrigation system, it is possible to plan maintenance activities and make guided decisions within a structured plan. An efficient maintenance management framework for irrigation systems is the only way both to ensure the continued availability of the irrigation systems and to extend their useful life span. To these ends, the RCM methodology has achieved positive results in several areas of this study. The results indicated that the RCM methodology implemented for irrigation systems brought about greater accuracy in the maintenance decisions and activities applied to these systems, where the decision-maker of the irrigation system can define, based on the demand of a specific crop, the most appropriate maintenance actions for each consequence of failure. The use of this methodology highlights that effective maintenance management has to be aligned with the specificities of a crop and the functions and features of the system. In cases that do not use a standard maintenance policy, money and time is wasted, when non-effective maintenance is carried out unnecessarily, in addition to which total loss of a crop could result from not undertaking necessary © 2015 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
The 2011 and 2012 droughts considerably affected the Ogallala Aquifer supplying irrigation water for agricultural production in the US High Plains (HP). Shrinking water resources and growing demand for water create a challenging tradeoff situation. This also poses a question about the value of water and efficient water allocation. Currently, water rates for irrigating crops paid by farmers do not reflect the actual value of water that can be expressed solely as a shadow price. Also studies are missing that would comprehensively compare different states and different crops in one methodological framework. This paper helps to fill this gap. Farm-budget residual valuation is applied to estimate the shadow price of water for irrigation in three High Plains states: Texas, Kansas and Nebraska, for five prevailing crops: corn, cotton, sorghum, soybean, and wheat.
Even though hundreds of millions of people do not have access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation, these issues only entered the global political agenda around the mid-1970s. The period 1981–90 was declared as the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, with the objective that everyone would have access to clean water and sanitation by its end. The Decade did not meet its objective. The issue was then chosen as a Millennium Development Goal, with the objective that by 2015 the number of people not having access to clean water can be reduced by half. By 2002, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the United Nations reinterpreted Articles 11 and 12 of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and concluded that water is a human right under this agreement. Several governments have opposed the concept that new rights can be derived by reinterpreting existing treaties. The paper analyses the developments leading to the recommendation that water is a human right, and then assesses the implications of this new development and its implementation potential in the developing world, especially for the Middle East and North African region. It identifies seven priority areas where research is now needed.
In many arid countries, rules for the allocation of irrigation water when shortages occur are poorly defined. These weaknesses present a critical constraint to food security and can be a major cause of poverty and hunger. The search for flexible rules for the allocation of irrigation water is especially important in dry regions of the developing world where drought and climate change compound the challenges faced by farmers, extension advisers, water managers and governments. Afghanistan is one country in which inflexible arrangements for allocating irrigation water when drought occurs continue to undermine its food security. This paper develops and applies an empirical framework to evaluate several arrangements for the allocation of irrigation water when shortages occur. The intent of the analysis is to identify a water allocation system for sharing shortages that minimizes the loss in economic benefits and food security by efficiently sharing water supplies when the inevitable drought occurs. An integrated decision framework for water resources is developed that unifies crop, water, and farm data. Several water allocation rules that could increase the flexibility of irrigated agriculture in dealing with water shortages are analyzed for their impacts on farm profitability and food security. Findings show that a proportional sharing of water shortages, in which each canal bears an equal proportion of overall shortages, is the most flexible rule among those analyzed for limiting threats to food security and farm income. This water sharing arrangement is also seen as fair in many cultures and is simple to administer. In the developing world, the design and practical implementation of flexible rules for adapting to periodic water supply changes are important as water shortages become more pronounced in the face of droughts and climate variability. The results provide a framework for identifying, designing, and implementing water allocation rules for food security in the developing world’s irrigated areas.
Variability in water cycles driven by climate change is considered likely to impact rice production in the near future. Rice is the main staple food for the population in the lower Mekong Basin and the demand for food is expected to grow due to increase in population. This paper examines the impact of climate change on rice production in the lower Mekong Basin, evaluates some widely used adaptation options, and analyses their implications for overall food security by 2050. Climate change data used in the study are the future climate projection for two IPCC SRES scenarios, A2 and B2, based on ECHAM4 General Circulation Model downscaled to the Mekong region using the PRECIS (Providing Regional Climates for Impact Studies) system. In general, the results suggest that yield of rainfed rice may increase significantly in the upper part of the basin in Laos and Thailand and may decrease in the lower part of the basin in Cambodia and Vietnam. Irrigated rice may not be affected by climate change if increased irrigation requirements are met. Negative impact on the yield of rainfed rice can be offset and net increase in yield can be achieved by applying widely used adaptation options such as changing planting date, supplementary irrigation and increased fertilizer input. Analysis of the projected production, considering population growth by 2050, suggests that food security of the basin is unlikely to be threatened by the increased population and climate change, excluding extreme events such as sea level rise and cyclones.
Worldwide, irrigation water consumes the bulk of renewable fresh water resources. As water demand increases with rising living standards and population growth, and as prospects for water diversion (extraction) are limited in some regions and nonexistent in others, the course of water policy left open is to increase efficiency of water use. This requires taking account of the full cost of water and the way to achieve this goal inevitably leads to some form of water pricing. Yet, water policy makers and economists are far from agreeing on what constitutes the "right" price of water in any given circumstance and how this price is to be charged. This paper aims to clarify and reconcile some of the conflicting views by discussing the economic aspects underlying irrigation water pricing and their implementation in practice.
This article attempts to synthesize the research presented at the Fifth Annual Partners Meet of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI)– Tata Programme held in Anand, Gujarat, in March 2006. It specifically focuses on the prevalence and nature of inequities in water distribution. It shows that institutions in force create inequity in access to water in all the regions of the country; the landless and the dalits usually facing the brunt of the inequities.The inequities are more pronounced when water is considered as an input for economic activities such as agriculture. Geo-genic factors such as contamination of groundwater are compounded with inequities to severely impact the health and well-being of the poor and the weaker segments of the society. Finally, imbalance of social power allows industry to exploit water sources, producing inequities in use of water across sectors.
This paper examines what it means for Lebanon to adopt a human rights approach to water. Experts agree that there is a crisis in the water sector, with the poor suffering disproportionately in terms of access to, availability and quality of water. The paper details the gap between Lebanon's political acceptance of water as a human right, and its implementation. It suggests that the civil war, Israeli occupation and mismanagement reduced Lebanon's capacity to ensure an adequate water and sanitation services to its citizens. A lack of political will due to clientalist and sectarian considerations in public policy, ineffective public participation and tension over transboundary water resources have further intensified this problem and has led to the continued dominance of traditional security considerations in water policy. The paper asserts that the main goals set by the current reform process of the water sector address important capacity issues, such as efficiency gains and cost recovery, but do not signal a political shift towards a human rights-based approach.
The concept of integrated water resources management (IWRM) has been around for some 60 years. It was rediscovered by some in the 1990s. While at a first glance, the concept of IWRM looks attractive, a deeper analysis brings out many problems, both in concept and implementation, especially for meso- to macro-scale projects. The definition of IWRM continues to be amorphous, and there is no agreement on fundamental issues like what aspects should be integrated, how, by whom, or even if such integration in a wider sense is possible. The reasons for the current popularity of the concept are analyzed, and it is argued that in the real world, the concept will be exceedingly difficult to be made operational.
The paper analyses what is considered to be different 'prices' of water: those which depend on the services that are provided, on the revenues structures, and on the types of water markets to which the users may have access to. Conflicting roles of water pricing are also discussed, like the validity of the arguments based on economic efficiency; the generation of adequate revenues for operation, maintenance and expansion of the water system; and the 'equitable' treatment towards water users. Water pricing case studies in United States and Canada are presented.
This article reviews research on the application of economic concepts and tools to the analysis of the preservation, conservation, development, consumption, supply and allocation of water resources. It summarizes research on economic analysis to support policy formulation, implementation and evaluation, including both project appraisal and the design of institutions. Economic analysis can support ex post analysis of existing mechanisms that influence the allocation of water: Such mechanisms include laws, regulations, supply management, demand management, population and climate change. Economic analysis can also be used to conduct ex ante analysis to design future water allocation institutions. These institutions include various forms of marginal cost pricing, valuation of water in alternative uses, water quality management, optimization models, integrated supply and demand management, transboundary management, virtual water, decentralized management, common property institutions and watershed councils.
In the Rio Grande Basin of North America, water is overappropriated and demand for water grows while supplies are constrained by drought and climate change. The Basin is currently in its seventh year of drought, and reservoirs are at historically low levels. Thus agricultural and municipal river diversions have been sharply curtailed, and low flows threaten endangered species. A central policy challenge is the design and implementation of plans that efficiently and fairly allocate the Basin's water supplies. Such plans are complicated by the demands of existing water users, potential new users, three state governments, and two sovereign nations. To address these issues, an integrated basinwide nonlinear programming model was designed and constructed for the purpose of optimizing water allocations and use levels for the Basin. The model tests whether institutional adjustments can limit damages caused by drought and identifies changes in water uses and allocations that result from those adjustments. Compared to existing rules governing the river system's water use, future drought damages could be reduced by one-fifth to one-third per year from intrastate and interstate water markets, respectively, that permit water transfers across jurisdictions. Results show hydrologic and economic trade-offs among water uses, regions, and drought control programs.
To determine the most important production constraints and associated yield losses for six major food crops in 13 farming systems with high poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and East Asia, surveys were conducted with 672 experts representing a diversity of backgrounds and experience. Respondents reported large gaps between highest achieved crop yield on smallholder farms and average yield on farm. Yield gaps were smallest for rice (about 60% of current average smallholder farm grain yields), mid size for wheat and cassava, and larger (sometimes double current farm yields) for sorghum, cowpea and chickpea. Gaps were also smaller in the high input and yield farming systems of East Asia and largest in the marginal, drier systems, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Four categories of production constraint (abiotic, biotic, management and socio-economic) were considered important contributors to yield gaps. A diversity of specific constraints was reported for the crops in the different systems. The most severe and widespread specific constraints for wheat involved the deficiency, high cost and poor management of N fertilizer, and problems associated with drought stress at grain filling, mid season drought and irrigation management. Those for rice included N fertilizer problems, soil fertility depletion, various leaf, stem and head pests and diseases, weed competition and inadequate water management. Striga and weed competition, soil resource degradation, poor soil fertility management, and drought were the most severe specific constraints for sorghum. Insect pests of pod, leaf, stem and flower and the high cost of their control dominated the constraint set for cowpea. Helicoverpa pod borer, Botrytis grey mould and control costs were the most severe for chickpea. Unsuitable varieties/poor seed, soil infertility and fertilizer constraints were also widespread with the legumes. Marketing problems and lack of finance were concerns for cassava along with weed competition, African cassava mosaic virus and poor varieties/planting materials. The findings can help to inform priority setting for international agricultural research and development activities on important food crops in major farming systems occupying areas of high poverty.
Keywords: Crop production constraints-Food crops-Poverty-Smallholder farming systems-Yield gap
Water users wish to achieve the highest benefits from water resources. Rules limit the manner in which water users may utilise
the water resources occurring within their constituencies or territories. However an asymmetrical situation exists whereby
downstream users may not affect upstream users but upstream users do cause downstream impacts. Because of this asymmetry the
equitable sharing of water resources between upstream and downstream users will always imply that upstream users have to forego
some potential water benefits. The general question that this paper addresses is: which institutional arrangements can be
devised to (re-)establish an equilibrium between up- and downstream entities within a catchment area or river basin? The paper
addresses this question by first focusing on some local and national water allocation arrangements. After briefly reviewing
the different management regimes, customary and colonial, that co-evolved in Southern Africa, it assesses the water management
principles that are currently being espoused. The focus then turns to the principles in international water law that deal
with the allocation of water in transboundary river basins. It is concluded that it often proves difficult to reach agreement
over how to share the scarce resource. The paper then discusses the current trend to look beyond water and beyond the river
basin when seeking peaceful means to share a common water resource. The concept of “hydrosolidarity” emerges as a normative
value that may help to recreate a balance between the various (asymmetrical) interests that exist within a river basin. The
paper concludes that water resources can only be governed wisely is there is capacity to understand and monitor the water
fluxes within a river basin. If such capacity is wanting, priority should be given to strengthen it.
Variation in water availability is a major source of risk for agricultural productivity and food security in South Asia. Three hundred and thirty expert informants were surveyed during 2008-09 to determine the relative importance of drought and water-related constraints compared with other constraints limiting the production of four major food crops (wheat, rice, sorghum, chickpea) in five broad-based South Asian farming systems. Respondents considered drought an important constraint to crop yield in those farming systems that are predominantly rainfed, but associated it with low yield losses (well below 10% of all reported losses) for crops in farming systems with well-developed irrigation. In these systems, other water-related constraints (including difficult access to sufficient irrigation water, the high cost of irrigation, poor water management, waterlogging and flooding of low-lying fields) were more important. While confirming the importance of drought and water constraints for major food crops and farming systems in South Asia, this study also indicated they may contribute to no more than 20-30% of current yield gaps. Other types of constraint, particularly soil infertility and the poor management of fertilizer and weeds for the cereals, and pests and diseases for chickpea, contributed most yield losses in the systems. Respondents proposed a wide range of interventions to address these constraints. Continued investments in crop-based genetic solutions to alleviate drought may be justified for food crops grown in those South Asian farming systems that are predominantly rainfed. However, to provide the substantial production, sustainability and food security benefits that the region will need in coming decades, the study proposed that these be complemented by other water interventions, and by improvements to soil fertility for the cereals and plant protection with chickpea.
The sustainability of self-governingirrigation schemes is currently underpressure in many countries as publicfinancial support is decreasing.Furthermore, growing global concernregarding water scarcity means thatefficient water use is essential.Theoretically the choice and implementationof a water-pricing system should play acentral role in achieving this objective,both by recovering water costs and byencouraging farmers to adopt more efficientbehaviour. In the Senegal River Delta newlyestablished water users associations (WUAs)have chosen low water charges, which areaffordable for the majority of farmers butwhich underestimate long-term maintenancecosts. Combined with the difficulty ofcollecting and managing farmers' fees, thischoice has drawn them into a vicious circleleading to scheme deterioration and poorwater service. New alternatives have beendiscussed with them using a simulation toolthat takes into account both the watercosts and the farmers' incomes. Comparedwith the present fixed water charge basedonly on cultivated land, a two-part optionbased both on equipped and irrigated areasensures the recovery of fixed expenses suchas maintenance, while encouraging farmersto intensify their farming systems byadopting double cropping. Neverthelesschoosing a relevant water charge does notensure by itself the sustainability of anirrigation scheme. Combined supportproviding WUAS and farmers with efficientadvice regarding management andorganisational skills should alsocontribute significantly to achieve thisprime objective.
The rotational irrigation water delivery (warabandi) system practiced in the Indus river basin of Pakistan has continued for 100years. Irrigation water allocated to the farmers
under the warabandi system is proportional to farm size and is fixed. This rigid allocation system has been partly justified by its contribution
to social equity though this may have been at the cost of economic gains. In order to assess the operation of warabandi’s basic rules, a farmers’ survey was completed from 124 farmers located on five watercourses. A questionnaire was administered
to each farmer and farm management data were gathered. As fresh water resources are under stress and becoming scarce their
efficient use in all applications should be assured in water allocations. It is shown from the survey results that water allocation
based on very limited criteria does not maximize the socio-economic benefits gained from the use of scarce water. Thus, it
is suggested that the existence or non-existence of fresh groundwater resources along with other critical variables should
be taken into consideration when making canal water allocation decisions. Missed water deliveries due to failure of the canal
system appear to be the largest cause of losses. Water charges need to be increased to fund large improvements in canal maintenance
programs. It is pointed out that a framework should be developed as a tool to improve water productivity for Pakistan. This
should include: consideration of the gross area of a tertiary canal, sensitivity of crop growth stage to water shortage, crop
value, bias of allocation towards most water use efficient areas and water use efficient crops, the potential losses from
water deficiency.
Preserving natural wetlands is a growing challenge as the world faces increased demand for water. Drought, climate change and growing demands by users aggravate the issue. The conflict between irrigated agriculture and wetland services presents a classic case of competition. This paper examines an institutional mechanism that offers an incentive to farmers to adopt water conservation measures, which in turn could reduce overall water use in irrigated agriculture within a selected basin. Reduced water demands could provide the additional water needed for wetland preservation. We present an analytical empirical model implemented through the development of an integrated basin framework, in which least-cost measures for securing environmental flows to sustain wetlands are examined for the Zayandeh-Rud River Basin of central Iran. To test this idea, two policies - one with and one without an incentive - are analyzed: (a) reduced agricultural diversions without a water conservation subsidy, and (b) reduced agricultural diversions with a water conservation subsidy. The policies are evaluated against a background of two alternative water supply scenarios over a 10-year period. Results reveal that a water conservation subsidy can provide incentives for farmers to shift out of flood irrigation and bring more land into production by adopting water-saving irrigation technologies. The policy increases crop yields, raises profitability of farming, and increases the shadow price of water. Although the conservation subsidy policy incurs a financial cost to the taxpayer, it could be politically and economically attractive for both irrigators and environmental stakeholders. Results open the door for further examination of policy measures to preserve wetlands.
Agricultural production and support in Canada, the United States, and the European Union are highly concentrated on larger farms, which have higher income levels than the average of all farms. Smaller farms, though, are more dependent on support (in particular, payments) which accounts for a larger share of their gross receipts. As payments to farmers are more equally distributed than production, government support reduces income inequality by farm size and farm type. This study, carried out in the context of the OECD Network for Farm Level Analysis, concludes that improved efficiency and equity of policies will require better targeting of income support and, in turn, better information on the income and wealth situation of the agricultural population.
The 2002 and 2008 Farm Acts increased funding for conservation programs that provide financial assistance to farmers to implement conservation practices on working farmland. Along with seeking cost-effective environmental benefits, these programs have a goal of spreading conservation funding equitably across States. The 2002 and 2008 Farm Acts strengthened this allocative goal by setting a minimum threshold for conservation funding for each State—one that exceeds historical funding for some States—for enrolling agricultural producers in specified conservation programs. This study uses conservation program data to examine evidence of the impacts of the Regional Equity provision of the 2002 Farm Act, and explores the tradeoffs that can occur among conservation program goals when legislation gives primacy to fund allocation. The study found that cross-State shifts in funding reduced the acres receiving conservation treatment for many resource problems, but increased the net economic benefits from treatments on some of them. Overall impacts on the types of producers enrolled were small.
Jordan is extremely water-scarce with just 167 m3 per capita per year to meet domestic, industrial, agricultural, tourism, and environmental demands. The heavy exploitation of water resources has contributed to declines in the levels of aquifers and the Dead Sea. Rapid growth in demand, particularly for higher quality water for domestic, industrial, and tourism uses, is significantly increasing pressure on agricultural and environmental uses of water, both of which must continue to adapt to reduced volumes and lower quality water. The agricultural sector has begun to respond by improving irrigation efficiency and increasing the use of recycled water. Total demand for water still exceeds renewable supplies while inadequate treatment of sewage used for irrigation creates potential environmental and health risks and presents agricultural marketing challenges that undermine the competitiveness of exports. The adaptive capability of the natural environment may already be past sustainable limits with oasis wetlands having been most seriously affected. Development of new water resources is extremely expensive in Jordan with an average investment cost of US$4 to $5 per cubic meter. This paper examines four integrated water resources management (IWRM) approaches of relevance to Jordan: water reuse, demand management, energy-water linkages, and transboundary water management. While progress in Jordan has been made, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation continues to be concerned about the acute water scarcity the country faces as well as the need to continue working with concerned stakeholders to assure future water supplies.
An operational definition of water demand management is proposed with five components: (1) reducing the quantity or quality of water required to accomplish a specific task; (2) adjusting the nature of the task so it can be accomplished with less water or lower quality water; (3) reducing losses in movement from source through use to disposal; (4) shifting time of use to off-peak periods; and (5) increasing the ability of the system to operate during droughts. This definition brings out the drivers of water saving and permits the tracking of gains by the source of the saving. It is applicable to nations at different stages of economic development. It also shows how goals of greater water use efficiency are linked to those of equity, environmental protection and public participation. Taken together, these goals make water demand management less a set of techniques than a concept of governance.
Jordan is extremely water-scarce with just 167 m per capita per year to meet domestic, industrial, agricultural, tourism, and environmental demands. The heavy exploitation of water resources has contributed to declines in the levels of aquifers and the Dead Sea. Rapid growth in demand, particularly for higher quality water for domestic, industrial, and tourism uses, is significantly increasing pressure on agricultural and environmental uses of water, both of which must continue to adapt to reduced volumes and lower quality water. The agricultural sector has begun to respond by improving irrigation efficiency and increasing the use of recycled water. Total demand for water still exceeds renewable supplies while inadequate treatment of sewage used for irrigation creates potential environmental and health risks and presents agricultural marketing challenges that undermine the competitiveness of exports. The adaptive capability of the natural environment may already be past sustainable limits with oasis wetlands having been most seriously affected. Development of new water resources is extremely expensive in Jordan with an average investment cost of US$4 to $5 per cubic meter. This paper examines four integrated water resources management (IWRM) approaches of relevance to Jordan: water reuse, demand management, energy-water linkages, and transboundary water management. While progress in Jordan has been made, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation continues to be concerned about the acute water scarcity the country faces as well as the need to continue working with concerned stakeholders to assure future water supplies.
Access to water is viewed as a basic human right, a social necessity and a critical environmental resource in spite of the fact that water also has its own financial and economic values. Thus, the selection of set prices and pricing mechanisms addressing these contradicting views is remarkably complicated. On the other hand, water pricing is typically viewed as a good means to cover initial costs and sustain resources invested in water systems development, especially irrigated agriculture. Additionally, the cost of water services needs to be reasonable enough and linked to the amount of water consumed to encourage conservation. This paper illustrates criteria for equitable cost sharing, which include economic justification, efficiency and equity as well as users' acceptance. Elements of agricultural water pricing are also discussed. These elements comprise: the cost of water services, which is the total cost associated with irrigated agricultural systems development; the value of water, which reflects water's economic, social, environmental, cultural and religious values in the society; and the cost recovery mechanisms, which are the organizational and administrative measures to implement agreed upon policies to value water and services and make the collections.
Society derives a wide array of important benefits from biodiversity and the ecosystems in which it exists. These ecosystem services are essential to human existence and operate on such an overarching scale, and in such intricate and little-explored ways, that most could not be replaced by technology. Accordingly, approaches to integrated water resources management (IWRM) do not regard the ecosystem as a “user” of water in competition with other users, but as the base from which the resource is derived and upon which development is planned. A goal of IWRM should be to maintain, and whenever necessary, restore ecosystem health and biodiversity.Achieving the sustainable use of water resources and thus the maintenance of ecosystem services requires a rediscovery of the hydrological cycle and the water resources system. Such a rediscovery could;•identify characteristics that are critical to the provision of ecosystem services with emphasis on biophysical, economic, social and environmental characteristics and linkages in the system,•provide improved understanding of the behaviour of the interactions of the system, leading to the ability to provide cause and effect predictions and ultimately,•manage the water resources system guided by both biophysical and socio-economic indicators, end-points and value systems applicable to this rediscovery.In this paper, the concept of an ecosystem approach to the management of water resources is assessed in the light of a reanalysis of the hydrological cycle. The approach to maintenance of ecosystem functioning in South Africa through the so-called Resource Directed Measures is considered in the light of this assessment. It is concluded that there is a danger that, traditional command and control approaches to management of the water resources system will continue to be applied under the banner of IWRM and that this will result in the failure of natural systems to sustain the provision of ecosystem goods and services.
It is difficult to imagine a more basic human need than water. Still, around one billion
people lack access to safe drinking water. Among these, 15 million are in North Africa and 23 million
in West Asia. Whether these people should have the right to water seems to be a cumbersome
discussion that has lasted decades. This paper analyses the current situation in water services in the
Middle East and North Africa (MENA), by reviewing the status of achievement of the UN Millennium
Development Goals. Although one Target (10) implicitly mentions water supply services, it is crucial
to appreciate that water is related to almost all other Targets too. On average, the region is making
relatively good progress in meeting Target 10. But the discrepancies between countries and between
rural and urban areas are vast. Many countries have huge coverage shortcomings and show very
little, if any, progress. The other Millennium Development Goals and Targets complicate the picture
as they bring further, often massive strains to the water sector. The future outlook is somewhat
cloudy since the MENA region has witnessed an economic and social development in the past
decades which is far below the world’s average, and this tendency may not change much in the near
future. Therefore, the right to water seems to remain a distant dream to several tens of millions of
people in the MENA countries in coming years.
The Tonle Sap Lake ecosystem is considered by many to be the prodigious source of sustenance of the lower Mekong River Basin. Its productivity is one of the principle arguments in the integrated water resources management (IWRM) process. The productivity is most conspicuous in the fish catches and the large number of livelihoods that are sustained. A review of the data that are widely used to quantify the Tonle Sap's productivity has shown that these are problematic and do not provide an unambiguous indication of the level of ecosystem productivity. Ecosystem productivity in IWRM in the Mekong River Basin has a more prominent role than in most other river basins, and the process is compromised by the use of inadequate indicators. A practical, integrated indicator for ecosystem productivity is proposed.
In France, the water management issue is no longer a matter of developing stakeholder participation or transferring state competence to user associations. But, as for other countries with a significant irrigated agriculture, two socio-economic questions need to be answered: (i) How to ensure the sustainability of investments by raising the price of water without discouraging economic development? (ii) How to share water between users when resources are scarce? Answering these questions brings up the two basic principles of good water management for sustainable development: as it consumes more than 70% of the available water of low flow periods, irrigated agriculture must respect the other uses by limiting its demand to the allocated volume; as it involves large and long-term public investments, irrigated agriculture must at least bear the "sustainability cost" of the irrigation schemes including the upstream water resources. Such a general answer is of course largely case-specific and should be adjusted to each institutional framework. In France today, the Sociétés d'Aménagement Régional (SARs) are currently applying these principles. This paper will address both socio-economic questions stated above, with a specific discussion on the case of a water-stressed basin in the south west of France where a specific step-pricing and quota system has been set up in order to regulate the demand. It is argued that "full cost pricing of water services", as recommended in the World Water Vision (The Hague 2000), is not practical in the short term and, if pursued, could lead to very undesirable results. As a conclusion, two recommendations are proposed with a view to developing best practices in charging for water.
Water has no conscience and no shame; Water thrivesonw ater,iss elf-quenching. It often tastes of brine and ammonia, and always knows its way back home. A BSTRACT Given the long history and the multiple interpretations of water rights in the Middle East and North Africa, it is difficult to say anything new without being provocative. The danger is that, in the effort to be provocative, it is easy to become frivolous. Fortunately, it is not possible to deal with any aspect of water, and certainly not human rights to water, without at least passing attention to hydrology and geography, and to economics and political science. Although none of these disciplines gives exact answers, taken together they do impose boundaries to any commentary. Even so, the comments below are tentative. They should be taken in the context of a' think piece', designed to stimulate thinking rather than to provide final answers.
Climate variability leads to economic and food security risks throughout the world because of its major influences on agriculture. Accurate forecasts of climate 3–6 months ahead of time can potentially allow farmers and others in agriculture to make decisions to reduce unwanted impacts or take advantage of expected favorable climate. However, potential benefits of climate forecasts vary considerably because of many physical, biological, economic, social, and political factors. The purpose of this study was to estimate the potential economic value of climate forecasts for farm scale management decisions in one location in the Southeast USA (Tifton, GA; 31 • 23 N; 83 • 31 W) for comparison with previously-derived results for the Pampas region of Argentina. The same crops are grown in both regions but at different times of the year. First, the expected value of tailoring crop mix to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phases for a typical farm in Tifton was estimated using crop models and historical daily weather data. Secondly, the potential values for adjusting management of maize (Zea maize L.) to different types of climate forecasts (perfect knowledge of (a) ENSO phase, (b) growing season rainfall categories, and (c) daily weather) were estimated for Tifton and Pergamino, Argentina (33 • 55 S; 60 • 33 W). Predicted benefits to the farm of adjusting crop mix to ENSO phase averaged from US$ 3 to 6 ha −1 over all years, depending on the farmer's initial wealth and aversion to risk. Values calculated for Argentina were US$ 9–15 for Pergamino and up to US$ 35 for other locations in the Pampas. Varying maize management by ENSO phase resulted in predicted forecast values of US$ 13 and 15 for Tifton and Pergamino, respectively. The potential value of perfect seasonal forecasts of rainfall tercile on maize profit was higher than for ENSO-based forecasts in both regions (by 28% in Tifton and 70% in Pergamino). Perfect knowledge of daily weather over the next season provided an upper limit on expected value of about US$ 190 ha −1 for both regions. Considering the large areas of field crop production in these regions, the estimated economic potential is very high. However, there are a number of challenges to realize these benefits. These challenges are generally related to the uncertainty of climate forecasts and to the complexities of agricultural systems. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Water is a valuable and scarce production factor in the agricultural sector of Iran. At present, water resources are allocated by the government agencies, based mostly on socio-political criteria instead of economic measurements. Administrative water resource management has resulted in an inappropriate water allocation and water use, as water use efficiency is reported about 36% in the agriculture sector now. Recently, the water market has been introduced as an alternative mechanism to an administrative manner for increasing water use efficiency in several developed and developing countries. Water is transferred from low to highest marginal return use and consequently water use efficiency increases in the water market. This paper estimates potential gains of implementing agricultural water market in Saveh region by using a mathematical programming model. Results show that water trade among 24 villages in this region can increase farmers' profits, particularly during a water scarcity period. Also, a water market can increase labour demand and mitigate negative impacts of water scarcity on employment. Additionally, results show that the transaction costs must be declined to broaden the water markets.
Food security and sustainable development require efficient use of water resources, especially in irrigation. Economic pricing can be an effective tool to achieve more efficient water use, provided it is supported by other policies in implementation. Applying various water pricing and cost recovery arrangements is suggested for efficient allocation. Any adverse impact on farmers’ incomes must be addressed and more reliable service must accompany higher prices. Experience from several countries suggests a variety of implementation issues. Essential complements to water pricing are water distribution rules and technological choices at critical nodes in the delivery system that allow farmers flexibility in conserving water in response to higher prices. Among supporting institutions, water users associations seem a higher priority than water markets.
When the goal of water pricing is elevated from mere cost recovery to deriving the greatest value from scarce water and associated nonwater resources, conventional rate regimes are found to be deficient. To address the challenge of creating rates that are both efficient and budget-balancing, several theoretical and practical aspects of rate-making are considered. Purposeful selection of rate parameters for a specific billing system is demonstrated to serve efficiency and cost recovery objectives. Attention to non-accounting opportunity costs is an important system element, but these costs are often not fully borne by the utility or its customers. In situations where this issue is serious, state or federal pricing policy may be necessary.
Studies of the performance assessment of irrigation schemes have gained momentum since the late 1980s due to the common perspective that the resources (land and water) in irrigation schemes are not being managed appropriately. In this paper irrigation water management is considered as one of the activities of the irrigation scheme. Three phases of irrigation water management namely planning, operation and evaluation are identified. A framework for the performance assessment of irrigation water management in heterogeneous irrigation schemes is proposed in this paper, based on earlier studies made in this direction. The paper presents two types of allocative measures (productivity and equity) and five types of scheduling measures (adequacy, reliability, flexibility, sustainability and efficiency), together with the methodologies for estimating these for the scheme as a whole during different phases of irrigation water management.
We examine the development of irrigation management in northern China using data from village and household panels. During the past decade, reform-oriented institutions, such as water user associations and contracting, have largely replaced the traditional institution of collective management in village-level irrigation systems. A feature unique to China is that water user associations and contractors are provided with monetary incentives to save water. Water user associations have not yet achieved the broad-based participation of farmers that some advocates consider as a primary goal for forming the associations. Many village leaders serve also as the leaders of water user associations, thus possibly reducing opportunities for receiving operational input and policy direction from farmers. However, we observe improved performance of irrigation systems managed by water user associations, relative to collective management, in terms of maintenance expenditures, the timeliness of water deliveries, and the rates of fee collection. Performance has improved also in systems managed by contractors, although not as substantially as in the case of water user associations.