Water management agencies are expected to follow the full cost principle, in order to achieve a “good quality status” of water bodies, as stated by the Water Framework Directive. In this paper we claim that a mere reform of the current water tariff levels, will induce farmers to substitute the water source controlled by the water agency with alternative sources, such as riparian and ground water. This will likely imply a threat for the conservation of natural resources, especially in arid regions, where an overuse of ground water may have some serious effects on the availability of water for future generations, and on the worsening of the water quality, due to the salinization process. In this study we compare the current pricing method with two alternatives, a direct full volumetric, and an indirect per-irrigated area based methods, in order to compare the efficiency of water use, and their effectiveness on ground water consumption control. In addition, for each method we simulate different pricing levels, in order to find the most suitable tariff to be charged to farmers. Policy simulations are performed by means of a stochastic linear programming model, while the technical efficiency is measured by means of a Data Envelopment Analysis method. Results show that the current pricing method is not suitable to control ground water sources, while either the full volumetric and the area based pricing methods reach a similar efficiency level and, therefore, the choice may depend on the implementation cost of the policy.
L'efficienza delle politiche idriche in relazione alle scelte di schema e di livello tariffario per lo scenario 2015
PROSPERI, MAURIZIO;
2009-01-01
Abstract
Water management agencies are expected to follow the full cost principle, in order to achieve a “good quality status” of water bodies, as stated by the Water Framework Directive. In this paper we claim that a mere reform of the current water tariff levels, will induce farmers to substitute the water source controlled by the water agency with alternative sources, such as riparian and ground water. This will likely imply a threat for the conservation of natural resources, especially in arid regions, where an overuse of ground water may have some serious effects on the availability of water for future generations, and on the worsening of the water quality, due to the salinization process. In this study we compare the current pricing method with two alternatives, a direct full volumetric, and an indirect per-irrigated area based methods, in order to compare the efficiency of water use, and their effectiveness on ground water consumption control. In addition, for each method we simulate different pricing levels, in order to find the most suitable tariff to be charged to farmers. Policy simulations are performed by means of a stochastic linear programming model, while the technical efficiency is measured by means of a Data Envelopment Analysis method. Results show that the current pricing method is not suitable to control ground water sources, while either the full volumetric and the area based pricing methods reach a similar efficiency level and, therefore, the choice may depend on the implementation cost of the policy.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
