Water management: some personal reflections

In recent years, books, papers and media coverage of the global water crisis due to physical scarcities of water have become a growth industry. Is this widely accepted hypothesis correct? It is argued in this paper that the world is not facing a water crisis because of physical scarcities of water, as people with linear and compartmentalized thinking are forecasting, but is facing a crisis because of the inefficient way water has been managed in the past and is being managed in nearly all countries of the world. There is at present enough knowledge, experience, technology and even funds to solve the world's water problems for all uses. In addition, the world's future water problems will be very different compared to past and current problems. A new mindset is needed, first to identify the emerging water and water-related problems of the world, and then to find and implement appropriate solutions. Based on the current evidence, there is every reason to be cautiously optimistic of the world's water future.     

How could water markets like Australia’s work in China?

What hurdles lie in the path of the Chinese government’s plan to introduce water trading? This question is addressed by reviewing lessons from establishing water markets in Australia, and then assessing an early scheme to create them in China. In Australia, markets in water opened up over several decades, with gradual recognition of what was needed to avoid negative third-party effects. Trading there is now crucial: in drought years nearly half the water used by farmers is traded. Australia’s experience throws light on the key requirements for a water market – though markets in China will, naturally, be fashioned to suit its own conditions. The pilot work by Tsinghua University in Gansu Province has led the way in having trading at the local level in China. Compared with Australia, however, rights are not as tradeable, metering is poor, and plots are tiny. Trading has mostly been by water user associations, made up of several hundred farmers, but this dampens the incentives that make markets effective – and can upset individual farmers. Possible ways past these hurdles are discussed.     

The Cost of Irrigation Water Delivery: An Attempt to Reconcile the Concepts of Cost and Efficiency

This work discusses the conflict between two of the main objectives of the EU Water Framework Directive: cost recovery and economic efficiency in the use of irrigation water. In the Mediterranean region, this conflict is commonly embedded in a state of under-utilization of irrigation networks managed by Water User Associations (WUAs). This under-utilization arises from factors independent of farmers’ choice, such as water shortage, crises in the sector, and changes to the Common Agricultural Policy. This prevents the facilities from operating at the minimum average cost. This paper argues that farmers should not suffer this inefficiency, which results in them paying higher water prices to cover the costs of water supply. Indeed, the application of the Water Directive should be rethought, taking into account the specific problems related to irrigation in the Mediterranean region. Based on an econometric analysis of the costs of water distribution in a WUA in Sardinia (Italy), we propose a payment system based on two components. Primarily there is a fee related to the number of hectares under irrigation. In addition there is a fee that considers the intensity of irrigation: this component is to encourage farmers to save water. The results show that the proposed approach has some desirable effects, including higher rates of cost recovery and possibly a reduction in the use of groundwater. Finally, the proposed system is not overly expensive for the rest of the community, who must bear the costs of inefficiencies in the use of irrigation water that do not depend on choices of farmers.     

余姚市农业节水措施和激励机制

余姚市推广水稻薄露灌溉技术,累计面积38万hm2,节水4亿m3,获"可持续发展在中国案例大赛"优秀案例称号.通过实践,"经济型喷滴灌"新思路采用PE塑管代替钢管、河网代替主管道、缩小灌区单元、水泵机组移动等措施,降低造价50%以上;科学利用不同水源,促进了绿色食品生产,增加了农民收入.通过"机埠转制"、人员奖励、政府投入、企业投入等多种措施,使放水员、水利技术员、农技员及广大农户提高了节水灌溉的积极性.     

Hydro Power in Norway- Development, Political Priorities and Public Opinion ——Lessons learned through mora than 100 years of developments

The production of hydro power from its natural water resources has come to mean more to Norway than to possibly any other country in world. The right to utilize the falling water in the rivers belonged to whoever owned the adjacent ground. The acquisition of water rights is not allowed without a license from the government. Any development is also dependent on a governmental licence. Important conditions such as return of the property to the government without any compensation after 60 years, compulsory delivery of power at production cost and license fees to the local municipalities have been important incentives for the public and political acceptance of hydro power development in Norway during a long period of economic development. Today, Norway is a rich and materially well developed country, and there is no longer any acceptance for further hydro power development. Some of the remaining potential will be utilized for small-scale local developments, but most of it will be incorporated in governmental conservation plans.     

Groundwater quota versus tiered groundwater pricing: two cases of groundwater management in north-west China

Difficulties in monitoring groundwater extraction cause groundwater regulations to fail worldwide. In two counties in north-west China local water authorities have installed smart card machines to monitor and regulate farmers’ groundwater use. Data from a household survey and in-depth interviews are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the different regulatory institutions implemented with help of the smart card machines. In the given context, groundwater quota is more effective in curbing farmers’ groundwater use than the tiered groundwater pricing. The study shows that the usefulness of smart card machines depends on their embedding in the societal context and related regulatory institutions.     

A Strategy for Controlling Groundwater Depletion in the Sa'dah Plain,Yemen

Over-exploitation of the groundwater resources is the major problem leading to groundwater depletion in the Sa'dah Plain, one of the major semi-arid highland basins of Yemen. Groundwater-irrigated agriculture is the chief economic activity in the Plain. Consequently, depletion places socioeconomic development in jeopardy. Owing to the lack of institutional arrangements and management instruments, government intervention is not likely to alleviate the crisis. One non-governmental approach that takes advantage of the existing local sociopolitical structure and customary law would be to adopt an annual abstraction quota. Approaching the crisis at a grass-roots level and relying on the conformity of the local citizens with customary law are the main characteristics of this strategy, the optimum objective of which is sustainable utilization of water resources.     

Conflicting Attitudes Toward Inter-basin Water Transfers in Bulgaria

Abstract

Sofia, Bulgaria has suffered from chronic water shortages in recent decades. Since the 1970s, government officials have advocated the construction of a massive complex of dams, tunnels, and diversion structures to transfer water from the Rila Mountains to meet the city's needs. These inter-basin water transfers have been highly controversial, sparking protests by citizens in water export areas, water scientists, and environmentalists. Using a qualitative approach employing focus groups and interviews, this study describes and analyzes the attitudes of ordinary citizens, water scientists, environmental NGO leaders, and government officials toward inter-basin water transfers between the Rila Mountains and Sofia. Apart from government officials, there is little enthusiasm for inter-basin water transfers. Citizens living in water export areas are generally opposed to any water management actions that do not address their needs for a regulated water supply, while those living in Sofia see water transfers as being unnecessary and prohibitively expensive. A high degree of polarization exists between government officials, who view water transfers as being an important tool in water management, and water scientists and environmentalists, who view inter-basin transfers as being unnecessary, prohibitively expensive, and detrimental to local populations and the environment. All participants in the study agree that Sofia's present water supply network is highly inefficient and needs to be modernized. In spite of the shortages, water conservation methods have not widely implemented.     

中国21世纪水危机与节水

中国已面临水危机问题，其中突出的问题是干旱缺水。缺水已成为影响国民经济可持续发展的瓶颈因素。中国水资源的地区和时空分布都不平衡，水资源的人均、亩均水平很低，目前人均拥有的水资源量位居世界第１０９位，已被列入贫水国家之列。预计到２０５０年，水的供需矛盾将更加突出，这就迫使我们一方面要开源，增加供水量；另一方面要节水，减少水资源的消耗。在节水中，农业节水是节水的战略重点。     

Participatory water management and adoption of micro-irrigation systems: smallholder farmers in arid north-western China

Abstract

This study investigates smallholder farmers’ participation in and knowledge of village-based water user associations in north-western China, and analyzes their interplay with membership in water associations and installation and application of micro-irrigation systems. Using farmer survey data, a multivariate probit model is built to analyze the effects of influential factors. Results show significant effects of farmers’ perceptions of water shortage and its causes, attitudes to water conservation, village-based information, and incentives on the membership in water user associations and installation and application of micro-irrigation. Policies promoting micro-irrigation adoption should target decentralized water management and facilitate farmers’ participation.     

Implementing Government Assistance Programmes for Water and Sewer Systems in Texas Colonias

Experience in colonias—informal communities in Texas characterized by the absence of water and sewer systems—demonstrates that a well‐funded programme to subsidize infrastructure can falter if the incentives and management capacity of involved organizations do not support effective implementation. The Texas Legislature established the Economic Distressed Areas Programme (EDAP) in 1989 to subsidize service providers constructing water and sewer systems in colonias. A longitudinal assessment of EDAP found that the programme performed poorly until the late 1990s when the institutional context of the agency administering the programme changed. These changes led to a more effective set of incentives to implement the programme and improved performance. General lessons regarding programme performance are derived from the research results.     

An Initial Inventory and Indexation of Groundwater Mega-Depletion Cases

The state of groundwater systems worldwide is presently not well defined, and in particular there is little context for agencies responsible for managing water resources to evaluate occurrences of groundwater depletion against other cases globally. In this study, an initial inventory of groundwater depletion problems is compiled and ranked to identify the world’s most critical cases, i.e. situations of groundwater mega-depletion. The ranking is based on an indexed approach that considers overdraft, drawdown and subsidence, plus the importance of the resources in terms of population-dependency and rates of extraction. The five most highly ranked depleted aquifers of the world include the shallow aquifers of the Hai River Plain (China), the Altiplano region (Spain), the Mexico Basin (Mexico), the Huang River basin (China) and the California Central Valley (USA). An abridged account of modelling to assess drawdown is described for the Hai River Plain, revealing that despite recharge in the order of 13,000 GL/yr, an overdraft of about 8,000 GL/yr is occurring to support the vast population of the region. This has led to up to 100 m of drawdown in places and reports of subsidence of several metres. The Hai River situation demonstrates that falling water levels may not act to alleviate pumping stresses; a symptom of unchecked extraction and an exemplary illustration of the tragedy of the commons. The causal factors leading to mega-depletion are varying across the globe and each mega-depletion case contains unique elements, although population appears to be an important factor.     

石家庄平原区浅层地下水位变化研究

通过对石家庄平原区浅层地下水位动态特征分析,揭示了地下水位年际及年内变化规律及其主要影响因素(开采和降水)。结果表明,石家庄平原区地下水位年际下降明显,但不同月份的地下水位年际下降速率不等,雨季前的1月-5月年际平均下降幅度比雨季及其之后的6月-12月年际平均下降幅度大。地下水位的变化主要是受到开采量和降水量的共同作用。在年际变化上,开采量增大导致地下水位下降;而降水量对地下水位的年际影响主要表现在丰水年时地下水位出现回升或下降速度减缓,枯水年时地下水位下降速度增加。在年内变化上,3月份之后开采量增加和降水量较小导致地下水位下降较快,而从6月份开始降水量增大和开采量减小导致地下水位开始回升。     

Nitrate Pollution on the Island of Jersey

Abstract

This paper reviews the processes by which groundwater and surface water flows are polluted by nitrates on the Island of Jersey in the English Channel. It is shown that the primary cause of such pollution is the use of nitrate fertilizers by the Island's farmers. The activities of the major government institutions involved in reducing nitrate pollution are described and the costs of such management are assessed. The instruments deployed are regulatory, infrastructural, and educational; in contrast, economic instruments have not been deployed. The article then moves on to consider the benefits of pollution reduction in respect of enhanced environmental quality and improved human health. In conclusion, it is suggested that the standard for the nitrate content of drinking water, based on European Community legislation of 1980, was set at a level for which no human health benefits have been demonstrated but at substantial costs to the citizens of Jersey. This “cost without benefit” hypothesis is applicable to many other countries with respect to nitrate pollution management.     

基于含水层调蓄的长春市应急供水

根据长春市资源形势,强调了周边地下水水源对长春市城市解决应急供水的重要作用,提出了4种情形下的应急供水方案,并结合饮马河中游地下水源地实例对方案进行了论证。论证的重点在于长春市城市遭遇供水危机时应急水源保障长春市城市供水的可持续时间,论证结果表明:在一定的开采模式下,应急水源地可以向长春市提供相当可观的应急水量,在一定程度上可以缓解用水危机。     

Intensive groundwater use: a silent revolution that cannot be ignored.

Over the last decades, agriculture in arid and semi-arid countries has experienced a true "silent revolution" of intensive groundwater use. Millions of independent farmers worldwide have chosen to become increasingly dependent on the reliability of groundwater resources, and as a result their countries have reaped abundant social and economic benefits. Data from several countries shows that groundwater irrigation presents a much greater efficiency, than surface water irrigation systems, thus contributing to fulfil the motto of "more crops and jobs per drop". If this situation is confirmed globally, the usual world water visions have to be reviewed. However, the "silent revolution" has been carried out with scarce control on the part of governmental water agencies, and thus a series of unwanted effects have developed in certain places. While these by no means justify the pervasive "hydromyths" and obsolete paradigms that voice the frailty of groundwater, appropriate management of groundwater resources remains a worldwide challenge. This paper provides an overview of these issues, and concludes with the necessity there is to educate all levels of society on the importance of groundwater and to create bottom-up user associations to manage aquifers as common pool resources.     

小水电资源利用与促进新农村建设

对我国小水电资源进行分析,列举了农民股份制开发小水电长效增收的经验,认为小水电资源是除了土地、山林和水以外,山区广大农民少有的可利用资源,建议国家将其作为新农村建设的特殊资源严格管理。提出了国家扶持、农民股份制办小水电,促进新农村建设的方案设想。     

Simulating the Impact of Pricing Policies on Residential Water Demand: A Southern France Case Study

The case study conducted in this paper looks at residential water pricing from three different points of view. It first describes existing urban water-pricing practices in Southern France, emphasizing that pricing is not yet being used as a tool for providing economic incentives to save water. It then looks at the observed impact of pricing on water consumption, through an econometric analysis of a cross-sectional data set. The analysis suggests that demand, with an estimated price elasticity of −0.2, is not yet very responsive to price variation. A regional water model (300 municipalities) is then developed and used to simulate the potential impact of various water-pricing scenarios on aggregate water demand, aggregate water sales revenue, and consumer surpluses. The results illustrate the trade-offs that have to be made between the search for environmental effectiveness, cost recovery, and equity when implementing complex water-pricing structures such as block rates or seasonal water pricing.     

The political economy of metering agricultural tube wells in West Bengal,India

Unmetered electricity supply to agriculture has given rise to a unique and invidious water–energy–food nexus in India. Metering of agricultural consumers has been suggested as a way to break the nexus, but most states have not been able to meter farmers due to their opposition . The only exception is the state of West Bengal. Using primary data from a household survey conducted in 2010 when the metering process was still underway, this paper argues that farmers’ support for metering in West Bengal can be explained in terms of the economics of groundwater use and politics surrounding agriculture and groundwater in the state.     

Groundwater Doctrine and Water Withdrawals in the United States

Groundwater is a valuable natural resource which is directly related to food production, human and ecosystem health. In the US, 48% of irrigated agriculture relies on groundwater, but there is no systematic national program responsible for groundwater management. For this paper, each US state was classified based on its most prevalent groundwater doctrine: Absolute Ownership, Prior Appropriation, Reasonable Use, and Correlative Rights. The Köppen climate zone of each state, USGS runoff data and USGS county-level water use data from 1985 to 2015 were used to analyze how groundwater use varies with climate and groundwater doctrine. Semi-arid states, which all follow Prior Appropriation doctrine, have the highest average irrigation rate, while states following Reasonable Use doctrine have the lowest average rate, but the largest variability. Analysis of Covariance shows that in Prior Appropriation states, irrigation volume and area do not increase during warm, dry periods but in Absolute Ownership states irrigation volume does increase. Water use trend analysis shows that irrigated area and groundwater withdrawals have increased over the last 30 years in humid and temperate regions, while irrigated area has decreased in semi-arid regions. At the same time, irrigation rate and the fraction of irrigation coming from groundwater has increased everywhere, suggesting a potential shift in the preferred water source for irrigation. This data analysis will provide insights for future work on how water policy should respond to water scarcity in US.