Water Resources and Economics最新文献

Water demand is often found to be relatively price-inelastic, with substantial percentages of water consumption irresponsive to price changes. This does not mean that households are insensitive to price changes or unresponsive to tariff reforms. In order to explore the latter, and using Latent Class Models, we classified households into a series of distinct types according to how they switch between consumption tiers in response to changes in their water tariff. We then identified key drivers of this switching behavior, proposing that not only tariff-related variables but also sociodemographic, attitudinal, and information conditions define switching profiles. Our empirical exercise exploits information on water consumption and tariffs from 878 households in Granada (Spain) for the years 2010 and 2011 (when a new tariff structure was implemented), as well as a survey that collected additional information about household characteristics.

As farmers in semiarid climates seek new ways of adding value to their operations, those with irrigation water rights are increasingly receptive to payments, or credits, for water sharing. Yet, past research on the economic feasibility of limited irrigation strategies for consumptive use (CU) savings seldom considers production risk. Using stochastic dominance, we compare the effect of three limited irrigation practices—deficit irrigation, root zone drying, and early crop maturity—on the returns to corn production for sprinkler and subsurface technology. Field-level simulations show that the practices reduce returns and increase risk, but credits for CU savings could make them economically viable for farmers. Larger credits (more money) incentivize limited irrigation at greater levels (less yield and more risk), but fully compensating farmers for risk-bearing will be costly. With sprinkler technology, root zone drying becomes risk-efficient at lower credit values than deficit irrigation. Deficit irrigation along with root zone drying become risk-efficient at the lowest credit values for subsurface technology. Thus, risk aversion could explain why some farmers choose not to share water even when credits are large enough, on average, to compensate for differences in expected returns. Improved knowledge about the profitability and risk of limited irrigation practices can increase the joint sustainability of irrigated agriculture and other societal water uses.

Achieving equal access to drinkable water whilst guaranteeing no discrimination constitutes a priority goal and an acquired compromise for the international agenda. However, achieving this goal has become challenging, especially in megacities. Mexico City registers 94% coverage of water supply, according to the 2020 Population and Housing Census. In 2019, per capita water consumption was 123 l/day, a supply reasonable as it is above the 100 l/day recommended by the World Health Organization to guarantee optimal access to water. However, water consumption among households is characterized by a heterogeneous spatial distribution that denotes a great inequity. The objective of this research is to evaluate the configuration of the spatial patterns that define the differences in water consumption in Mexico City's households, as well as their association with possible causal factors. This task was carried out through the spatial analysis and the use of geographic information systems. The water consumption records correspond to the year 2019 and were provided by the city's operating utility. Results confirmed the existence of two clusters of households whose location highlight areas where inequality in water consumption is present. The clusters are explained by the interaction of four factors, in order of importance: discontinuous water supply; dependence on external water sources; altitude; and the socioeconomic status of the neighborhoods. The results provide a fundamental basis for the development of water policies to mitigate inequality. Also, a methodological approach is provided to investigate water problems in large cities in developing countries, where the available literature is scarce.

We extend the axiomatic Nash bargaining approach to the context of interregional water sharing in order to assess the approach’s normative implications in a general equilibrium (GE) framework. The GE model is applied to a water development project proposed for the Wasatch Front and Cache Valley regions of Utah — the Bear River Development Project (BRDP). We demonstrate conceptually how an allocation rule and attendant net regional welfare measures are endogenously determined as equilibrium solutions to the bargaining problem. Numerical analysis, based upon a simulation model calibrated to current data, reveals that Nash bargaining is generally infeasible as a solution mechanism for sharing surplus water supplies generated through the implementation of the BRDP, with or without potential ex post side-payments made between Cache Valley and the Wasatch Front. Only in the special case of (1) larger future regional population sizes, (2) a hypothetical, joint per-capita cost-share arrangement where total project (i.e. fixed) costs are shared equally across the two regions, (3) hypothetically larger water augmentation rates, and (4) the ignoring of potential environmental costs, is the Nash bargaining solution viable. Otherwise, for all other scenarios where the analysis is based upon current or future population sizes, joint- or region-specific cost-share arrangements, lower or higher water augmentation rates, and internalized or externalized environmental costs, the Nash bargaining solution is found to be unattainable as a potential mechanism to share surplus water supplies produced by the BRDP.

This article uses a discrete choice experiment carried out in the city of Antofagasta, Chile, to understand consumer's preferences for urban drinking water. To disentangle the perceptions and valuation of drinking water attributes, we propose a willingness-to-pay (WTP)-space model where the WTPs for water attributes are distributed as a mixture-of-normal distribution. This approach combines discrete and continuous heterogeneity representations of tastes providing a richer interpretation of preference heterogeneity for drinking-water characteristics such as price, the organoleptic characteristics, information about the chemical composition, origin, and the taste of water by distinguishing between tap or bottled water. This mixture-based formulation is also flexible enough to identify clusters of individuals with differing WTP for these attributes. The elicited perceptions and inferred preferences derived from our results are important to understand why consumers still distrust tap water for drinking, though tap water meets Chilean regulations in terms of safety and is distributed within a stable network.

Energy and water are essential resources for ensuring economic growth. Both sectors are closely interrelated. Electricity generation is one of the most water-intensive activities worldwide and the cooling of thermoelectric power stations represents one of the largest uses of water within the energy sector. This study provides evidence on the existence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) for water withdrawal at the thermoelectricity sector in Spain, one of the most arid countries in Europe, for the period 1970–2019, using the ARDL model. Our results show a direct relationship between per capita income and water withdrawal until an estimated turning point is reached. In the Spanish case, further development has led to a reduction in water needs for the following reasons: 1) the use of less water-intensive cooling systems, 2) changes in generation technology.

Using event study methodology, this paper examined the effects of water environment regulations on the stock prices of polluting Chinese firms over the past decade. It was found that there were relatively weak market responses to regulations passed by the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, and more significant market responses to regulations implemented by less powerful administrations. In particular, the market reaction in various industries to the State Council's Water Ten Plan was instant and strong. While most water environment regulations had negative effects on heavy polluters, some recent regulations had positive wealth effects. Because water environment regulations have different effects on shareholder values in different industries, these results could assist in guiding hierarchical water environment regulation policies and portfolio diversification.

Whether rapid urbanization promote inter-regional virtual water transfers, and whether economic benefits produced by virtual water trade differ across regions, which have become the two significant issues concerned by relevant stakeholders. To this end, on the basis of investigating dynamic change of inter-regional virtual water transfers in Chinese 30 provinces from 2002 to 2015, this paper constructed the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index models to analyze the factors driving such change, particularly the impacts from the urbanization, and evaluated quantitatively regional economic benefits resulted from virtual water transfers, so as to develop relevant policies that potentially facilitate optimal allocation of water resources. Results indicated that compared to that from 2002 to 2007, the total volume of inter-regional virtual water transfers in China were smaller during 2010 and 2015. The rapid development of urbanization within China continued to improve the increase in the trend of virtual water flowing out of water-scarce regions. Moreover, regarding provincial economic benefits resulted from inter-regional virtual water trade, the ratio of income to loss for most provinces in the eastern region was greater than one, while the ratio was less than one for the rest of China. Furthermore, this paper articulated more targeted water resources management measures from the perspective of the economically benefited regions and the economically damaged regions.

Nitrogen and phosphorus emissions from urban sources degrade aquatic ecosystems. Reducing these emissions cost-effectively in an urban environment is challenging because they are non-point source pollutants and abatement strategies range from behaviour change for garden fertilizer use to large scale infrastructure investments. This paper analyses policy options for the Canning catchment in Western Australia with a dynamic and spatial hydro-economic model. Currently responsibility for N and P abatement is fragmented across government agencies. A coordinated cost-effective policy to meet N and P abatement targets in the case study catchment would cost A$0.5 billion over the next fifty years. The minimum cost is approximately doubled if the policy set excludes septic tank infill and constructed wetlands. Costs are significantly reduced if there is a city-wide policy to mandate the use of slow-release nitrogen fertilizer on public open space. We conclude that there is a significant benefit to society from adopting a coordinated approach to nitrogen and phosphorous abatement. Further, in this case study, a non-point source pollution problem can be addressed by abatement measures, such as infrastructure investment, that are directly observable.

Consumption of bottled water in the U.S. continues to grow despite the higher user price and greater environmental cost relative to municipal tap water. Convenience is surely one reason for this trend, but it is less relevant for in-home consumption of bottled water. The existing literature highlights perceptions of quality, access to information and personal experience as important factors influencing water usage in the home. In this paper we report the results of a 2018 survey of water customers of Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA), the primary municipal water utility in Northeast Florida. The survey includes detailed questions regarding self-reported household water usage, information availability, information processing, trust in institutions and demographic characteristics. In addition, in cooperation with JEA, we matched the survey results with administrative data on geographic location within the system. Using a bivariate probit regression method, we estimate the determinants of water usage in the home. The results show that concern for drinking water safety is the principal contributor of bottled water consumption. Moreover, the evidence illustrates how information from water quality reports and objective measures of water hardness translate into the drinking water choice. We also show that greater transaction costs of bottled water due to low access to retail suppliers is associated with a substitution of water filtration for bottled water.