Some rationales for risk sharing and financing adaptation.

Current climate variability and anticipated climate change challenge our water systems and our financial resources. The sharing of economic losses due to weather related hazards and the sharing of costs that result from protecting lives and property take place in different forms, but are currently insufficient. In this paper we discuss three different rationales for financing disaster losses through public and private arrangements, as well as options for financing adaptation, with a special focus on water management. We propose that financial arrangements for risk sharing and climate change adaptation should be reconsidered, in a more structured approach, to be able to deal with both disaster losses and the costs that arise because of climate change adaptation, e.g. for water management, in both developing and developed countries.     

The Water Markets as Effective Tools of Managing Water Shortages in an Irrigation District

In this work, the efficiency of water markets in an irrigation district is put under consideration. This efficiency is referred to the private economic losses arising from a reduction in the availability of water, so the most efficient or optimal allocation will be the one that minimizes these losses or the one that provides the maximum private benefit. On this view, the optimal allocation has been studied in an irrigation community, and it has been compared with the rule of fixing a same quota and the proportional reduction. Besides, from the water allocation made by these last two rules, a water market has been simulated. Formulation for all of them is provided. Results show that water markets will improve the suboptimal allocation made by the rule of fixing a same quota and the proportional rule, even when transaction costs are high. They also show that, mostly, the greater the water restrictions, the greater are the gains from trade. It can be inferred too that, as long as all determinants have been taken into account and transaction costs are low enough, the aggregate losses of income ensuing from any prescribed water reduction will be the lowest both by means of the optimal allocation as with a market. Anyhow, results and conclusions clearly dependent on the relations made between allocations and crop yields.     

Economic Assessment of Best Management Practices in the Mara River Basin: Toward Implementing Payment for Watershed Services

The Mara River in East Africa is currently experiencing poor water quality and increased fluctuations in seasonal flow. Improved water quality will require upstream farmers and foresters to adopt Best Management Practices (BMPs), which might cost them considerably. This study proposes a Payment for Watershed Services (PWS) mechanism. This is a market-based approach, whereby downstream water users would pay upstream watershed service providers towards the costs of BMPs implementation. This study analyzes the technical feasibility and economic viability of adapting selected BMPs and provides cost estimates of a PWS program. Using three criteria of water quality improvement, economic feasibility, and technical suitability, a detailed economic opportunity cost analysis revealed that farmers would indeed incur economic losses for all BMPs except no-till farming. We also developed a multi-criteria (demographic and environmental) methodology for identifying land areas to be placed under BMPs. More than 122,000 ha of land would require BMPs, including a moratorium on agriculture inside the Mau Forest Complex. The initial per hectare opportunity costs across the five highest ranked BMPs ranged from US$ 272 to US$ 926. Using these cost estimates, the paper draws some valuable policy and management insights on how to finance BMP implementation.     

A Graphical Rule for Volumetric Evaporation Loss Correction in Reservoir Capacity-Yield-Performance Planning in Urmia Region, Iran

The loss of stored water from surface water reservoirs through evaporation is inevitable and can be significant in arid and semi-arid climates. One way of compensating for this inevitable loss is to explicitly include the evaporation process in the reservoir planning analysis, thus ensuring that the resulting capacity estimate will be capable of meeting both the intended consumptive demands and the evaporative losses. However, because evaporation measurements are often unavailable and because there are few reservoir planning techniques that can explicitly accommodate evaporation consideration, this solution is often not applied. The result is that there is currently little guidance regarding the allowance for evaporation losses during reservoir planning in such regions. This study has used data from the Urmia region in Iran to develop a rule for evaporation correction during reservoir planning. The way to use the rule is explained and suggestions about how the study can be extended are offered.     

The Economic Impact of Water Evaporation Losses from Water Reservoirs in the Segura Basin,SE Spain

In this paper we assess the economic impact of evaporation losses from great dams (GDs) and on-farm agricultural water reservoirs (AWRs) in the semi-arid Segura River basin, SE Spain. Evaporation losses from water reservoirs reduce the high water use efficiency reached in agriculture by means of other techniques such as well-built water pipes or drip irrigation and have a substantial economic impact. Evaporation losses have been calculated using Class-A pan evaporation data and pan coefficients, whereas their economic impact has been assessed using an economic mathematical programming model that simulates land and water allocation in the different irrigated areas of the basin. Our results show that annual evaporation from GDs and AWRs represents 8.7% of the water currently available for irrigation in the Segura basin. The economic impact of such losses has been estimated in a reduction of 6.3% of the value of agricultural production and 5.4% of the farm net margin. As less water is effectively available for farmers the basin’s irrigated area is reduced in a 7.5%. This impact is greater, in both absolute and relative terms, in the areas accommodating the most intensive and profitable irrigated agriculture. The applied methodology and results could be useful to regional water agencies and collective irrigation schemes for future planning and management, including the assessment of alternatives for reducing evaporation from reservoirs.     

Removing the Confusion Over Droughts and Floods: The Interface Between Scientists and Policy Makers

Droughts and floods, as precipitation excesses, are quite different natural hazards, and each costs the United States more than $1 billion in losses annually. At the impact and policy levels, confusion arises from an inability to define droughts suitably and to identify flood losses in a quantitative way, unaffected by population changes, land use shifts, and other socioeconomic factors. Examples from Illinois research are used to show how relationships can be developed between generally understandable precipitation values and drought or flood losses in various economic sectors and land use areas. Then, the time and space variations of the events can be objectively assessed by using the precipitation data, providing meaningful scientific-engineering definitions for use by decision makers.     

Managing Irrigation Water Shortage: a Comparison Between Five Allocation Rules Based on Crop Benefit Functions

In this work the efficiency of five allocation rules of irrigation water is analyzed and compared. We define the most efficient rule as the one that minimizes the economic losses arising from a reduction in water availability. The first allocation rule is an equal quota granted to all irrigators. The second one is based on proportional reductions. By means of the third rule all losses of income per hectare are matched, while the fourth makes that all relative losses to the reference incomes are matched. Lastly the fifth rule seeks to maximize private benefit and economic efficiency. We prove that this one would likely be preferred by farmers growing more than one crop. The fundamentals of these rules are included, showing the analytical deduction of the crop-specific reallocations from any prescribed water reduction rule within an irrigation district, as well as the losses of income ensuing from reduced water deliveries. The methodology used herein to compare the efficiency of all these rules is dependent on the relations between allocations and yields. To estimate them, a simple and practical procedure is presented. The five allocation rules are applied to an irrigation community and compared to each other in terms of economic efficiency. Differences in economic losses arising from one rule or another will be sharper the more heterogeneous communities are. Different losses across rules will also be related to the level of water shortage.     

南水北调人工补给地下含水层成本效益研究

将国内外人工补给地下含水层模式分析归纳为9种,其中地表水-人工整修天然河道模式是在河北平原地区利用南水北调水人工补给地下水最有效的模式;将人工补给地下含水层的效益分为经济效益(包括工业和农业增产效益)与生态环境效益(包括防治地下水漏斗下降与地面沉降等效益),提出了各类效益计算方法;将地下水超采所产生的生态环境破坏损失分为地下水漏斗下降经济损失与地面沉降经济损失两大类,研究探讨了各类损失的计算方法,并进行了计算。结果表明,2006年地下水漏斗下降经济损失为24.93亿元,到2006年地面沉降累计经济损失与多年平均经济损失分别为1 917.14亿元和53.25亿元;而对河北平原地区利用南水北调水人工补给地下含水层的经济效益与生态环境效益进行计算表明,人工补给地下水用于工业、农业和生态环境的效益分别为6.42元/m3、2.05元/m3和4.03元/m3,其效益费用比分别为3.61、1.15和2.26。     

Exploring Future Water Shortage for Large River Basins under Different Water Allocation Strategies

Climate change and socio-economic development increase variations in water availability and water use in the Pearl River Basin (PRB), China. This can potentially result in conflicts over water resources between water users, and cause water shortage in the dry season. To assess and manage water shortage in the PRB, we first explored two water availability and three water use scenarios. Next, four different strategies to allocate water were defined. These water allocation strategies prioritized upstream water use, Pearl River Delta water use, irrigation water use, and manufacturing water use, respectively. The impact of the four strategies on water use and related economic output was assessed under different water availability and water use scenarios. Results show that almost all the regions in the PRB are likely to face water shortage under the four strategies. The increasing water demand contributes twice as much as the decreasing water availability to water shortage. All four water allocation strategies are insufficient to solve the water scarcity in the PRB. The economic losses differ greatly under the four water allocation strategies. Prioritizing the delta region or manufacturing production would result in lower economic losses than the other two strategies. However, all of them are rather extreme strategies. Development of water resources management strategies requires a compromise between different water users.     

预测气垫式调压室运行中的漏气量的模型研究

在调压室的设计中,预测其在运行中的空气损失量是极为必要,因为漏气量严重影响着调压室的工作性能。调压室运行中气室的超压空气通过围岩裂缝向周围渗漏的过程是涉及气体驱替孔隙水的水－气二相流过程,目前对调压室漏气量的预测大多采用经验公式。作者基于多相流理论,同时考虑水相和气相的流动及相互作用,建立水－气二相流模型,针对气垫式调压室运行过程中气压室内的气体沿单裂缝向粘土夹层渗漏的水-气二相渗流过程进行了探索性研究。模拟了不同的围岩孔隙水压力与调压室内气压力比值情况下的气压室漏气情况,结果表明,当该比值增大时,漏气量将迅速减少,验证了设置水幕的防漏措施的有效性。由于水-气二相流模型可以充分考虑调压室地质条件,水幕的压力,气室气压及围岩性质等因素的影响,为空气损失评估、水幕设计及对漏气严重的调压室进行修补提供了新的研究思路。     

Governance and Climate Vulnerability Index

Water resources in the Middle East are under enormous stress, due to an increase in population growth and the extensive use of water resources, which exceeds the water demand in this regional bloc. Moreover, climatic changes pose another dimension of stress on water resources; these changes have significant environmental, social, and economic effects. In fact, the governance of these countries has the tendency of increasing this stress or decreasing it, depending on its performance and efficiency in applying policies, legislation and managerial plans towards decreasing the poverty and the vulnerability of the countries specially those suffering from poverty. In this paper, the vulnerability of five countries-Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria??will be assessed based on the extent of climate changes and the type of climate governance and their effects on water resources. This paper will introduce a new index, which will be called the Governance and Climate Vulnerability Index (GCVI). The index will measure the vulnerability of each country vis-à-vis water-related issues, while taking into account governance and climatic indicators. The vulnerability of these countries will also be ranked, for purposes of comparison. This paper concludes with the recommendation for governments to develop appropriate water resources management and to improve their environmental policies, including raising awareness on multiple levels. These strategies are expected to lead to decreased vulnerability to climatic changes.     

Socio-Economic Impact of Evaporation Losses from Reservoirs Under Past, Current and Future Water Availability Scenarios in the Semi-Arid Segura Basin

This study assesses evaporation losses from water reservoirs in the semi-arid Segura basin (south-east Spain), one of the most water stressed European catchments. These losses are evaluated from both the hydrologic and economic perspectives under different water availability scenarios that are based on water policy trends and climate change predictions. We take a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis, combining energy balance models to assess the effect of climate change on evaporation from water bodies, Class-A pan data and pan coefficients to determine evaporation loss on a regional scale, and non-linear mathematical programming modelling to simulate the economic impact of water use and allocation in the basin. Our results indicate that water availability could be reduced by up to 40 % in the worst-case scenario, with an economic impact in the 32–36 % range, depending on the indicator in question. The total annual evaporation loss from reservoirs ranges from 6.5 % to 11.7 % of the water resources available for irrigation in the basin, where evaporation from small reservoirs is more than twice that from large dams. The economic impact of such losses increases with water scarcity, ranging from 4.3 % to 12.3 % of the value of agricultural production, 4.0 % to 12.0 % of net margin, 5.8 % to 10.7 % of the irrigated area, and 5.4 % to 13.5 % of agricultural employment. Results illustrate the importance of evaporation losses from reservoirs in this region and the marked upward trend for future scenarios. Besides, they highlight the extent of the impact of climate change on future water resources availability and use in southern Europe.     

Environmental and Resource Costs Under Water Scarcity Conditions: An Estimation in the Context of the European Water Framework Directive

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires the good ecological status of surface water bodies, which implies the improvement of both their physicochemical condition, as well as their flow and continuity. The WFD prescribes the assessment of environmental and resource costs and benefits associated with implementing these improvements. The recent literature focuses almost exclusively on the assessment of the economic values related to quality aspects. However, in much of southern Europe, fulfilling the WFD goals will greatly depend on maintaining sufficient water flow, as well. This study aims to fill this gap by assessing the non-market value of allocating enough water to the environment to ensure environmental services are sustained when water is scarce. The non-market value of guaranteeing water supply for secondary household uses is also estimated. Using the Guadalquivir River Basin in Spain as a case study, a choice experiment is applied with scenarios characterized by varying water flow levels and accompanying environmental impacts, and a different frequency of household water restrictions. The results show that the population derives significant benefits not only from the direct use of water, but that also holds non-use values related to the ecological status, although the latter has a considerably lower impact on consumer surplus. Additionally, we conclude that the costs of implementing the water saving measures currently included in the Program of Measures seem to be proportionate to its benefits in this case.     

Using ultraviolet light for disinfection of finished water.

Ultraviolet light is now recognised to be very effective for inactivation of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts; however, its application for disinfection of finished water necessitates validation of UV reactors prior to their installation. Although reactor performance will likely be assessed using non-pathogenic microorganisms as biodosimetry surrogates, it would be prudent for the water industry to simultaneously measure Cryptosporidium oocysts inactivation in controlled bench-scale studies using the water matrix intended for disinfection. The likelihood of that occurring is dependent upon the availability of infectivity measurement procedures that are more user-friendly than the mouse infectivity assays currently used. This study describes a modified cell culture procedure that would enable reliable measurement of changes in oocysts' infectivity following their UV treatment. Also, a number of different biodosimetry surrogates were examined and one selected for comparing the UV doses delivered between bench-scale and full-scale biodosimetry studies. Impacts of UV disinfection on production of disinfection byproducts, effects of lamp ageing on effectiveness of disinfection and the costs associated with employing this technology were also examined.     

The Yellow River Basin: Water Accounting,Water Accounts,and Current Issues

Abstract

There is increasing recognition of the problems facing China in meeting the growing water demand in the Yellow River basin, the “cradle of Chinese Civilization” and a critically important agricultural and industrial region. Meaningful debate on the range and relative costs of options available to policy-makers in addressing the problem depend fundamentally on an accurate understanding of basin water resources. Unfortunately, the ability of outsiders to participate in the de bate and for Chinese, with their long history of water management, to contribute to similar discussions elsewhere in the world is hindered to some extent by a lack of understanding of differences in water accounting systems and concepts. This paper attempts to address this problem by describing the water accounting system used in the Yellow River basin and elsewhere in China. The paper shows that the primary difference between water accounting methodologies in the Yellow River and those typically applied elsewhere is related to supply accounting in general and groundwater accounting in particular. Although not currently included in its water accounting system, Chinese concepts of environmental water use, when included, will also differ substantially from those familiar to outside researchers. In terms of actual Yellow River balances, the paper highlights the apparent declining trend in basin rainfall and runoff and the dramatic growth in industrial and domestic water use. Together declining supply and rising demand will increasingly cause policy-makers to face hard choices in assessing their water planning options. These choices will only become more difficult as managers in the Yellow River, as elsewhere in the world, try to incorporate ecological needs in the water accounting equation.     

环首都经济圈水资源合理配置与评估

河北省环首都经济圈对于加速形成以首都中心城市带动、区域中心城市支撑、点面协同发展的京津冀一体化有着重要意义,按照环首都经济圈总体规划,实现其跨越式发展,水资源的支撑和保障能力将面临严峻挑战。本文在区域水资源情势分析的基础上,对当地的地表水、地下水和外调水进行多水源的联合调配,从水资源开发利用率及其变异系数对环首都经济圈区县优化配置结果分析表明,研究提出的区域水资源配置方案对于提高环首都区域供水保障程度、支撑环首都经济圈的快速发展可提供科学支撑.     

Benefits and Costs of the Ruffe Control Program for the Great Lakes Fishery

Although data on Great Lake fish stocks and values are uncertain estimates, reasonable approximations can be made concerning economic losses for the United States from various types of management practices. Based on biometric changes that are projected to occur, it appears that early control of a non-indigenous fish species, specifically ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernuus), can result in significant investment returns. By instituting a ruffe control program, benefits to the public will exceed costs by 44 to 1 over the next five decades. Under a moderate case projection of benefits this will yield an estimated net public savings of $513 million for the United States. Since sportfishing values are much greater than commercial fishing values, anglers will benefit the most from this program.     

Water Price Reforms in China: Policy-Making and Implementation

Following the conviction that economic and pricing approaches are an essential addition to conventional command-and-control environmental regulation, China has gradually increased attention to, research on and experiments with the application of economic instruments in urban water management over the past two decades. This paper analyzes the actual application and implementation of economic instruments in Chinese urban water sectors, applying an ecological modernization perspective. Water tariffs in China have increased sharply over this period, increasingly representing full costs and increasing water use efficiency. But implementation of water tariffs does run into problems of unclear responsibilities, poor collection rates and institutional capacities. It is concluded that Chinese style ecological modernization should pay more attention to the institutional dimensions of natural resource pricing policies, if it is to profit from the theoretical advantages of economic approaches in urban water management.     

水资源短缺风险经济损失评估研究

为了更准确地评估水资源短缺的经济损失,本文利用水资源投入产出宏观经济模型,对水资源的影子价格进行分析计算,在此基础上得到水资源短缺的经济损失及其概率。同时,对包括北京和天津在内的首都经济圈2010规划水平年的水资源短缺经济损失及其概率分布进行了计算。结果表明,在二次水资源供需平衡下,2010年北京市水资源短缺所造成的期望损失值为23.84亿元,天津市为20.07亿元。     

Environmentally-Sensitive Water Resources Planning

In this paper, the traditional problem of matching supplies to competing demands, referred to as water resources planning (WRP), is re-visited. With the pressure of continuing growth in the world's population, efficient development and management of available water resources are of greater importance than ever before. It is equally important in today's world that the environmental implications of any activity should be minimised. The aim of this research is to develop a methodology for including environmental considerations in the WRP process. This is achieved by weighting the costs of the various water resource options (both constructional and operating) to reflect their environmental impacts, prior to their inclusion in an economic planning model. The effect of such a weighting procedure is to encourage the selection of environmentally-friendly schemes at the expense of environmentally-damaging ones. The objective function of the combined methodology is to minimise the total environmentally-adjusted costs, discounted to a base year. A comprehensive planning tool named ENRES has been developed to carry out this task. The model allows the environmental impact assessment of all development options, either source components or transfer structures, to be undertaken prior to running the allocation procedure which is carried out by means of an optimisation technique. With the help of all the facilities provided, the model can be used in a planning exercise both with and without environmental considerations. In this way, it is possible to quantify the cost of environmental impacts in the planning process.