Jean-Daniel Rinaudo

Linking water market functioning, access to water resources and farm production strategies: example from Pakistan

As a response to inadequacy in canal water supplies, farmers in Pakistan have invested in private tubewells to control irrigation water resources. Also, they participate in surface water and groundwater markets that take place within tertiary units of the irrigation system.The present paper describes the functioning and organization of these water markets, using information collected in sample watercourses of the Fordwah Branch irrigation system, South-Punjab, Pakistan. The variability in type and intensity of water markets is investigated with regard to access to water resources and farm production strategies and constraints.

Distributing water or rents? Examples from a public irrigation system in Pakistan

ABSTRACT During the last decade, a large number of developing countries have engaged into irrigation policy reforms. Such reforms are frequently associated with changes in the distribution of irrigation benefits among interest groups. This paper investigates the nature of the existing economic rent in public irrigation systems. It proposes a conceptual framework to analyze its distribution between private and public actors involved in irrigation management. A case study is conducted in Pakistans Indus basin to quantify the overall level of rent granted to the irrigation sector and to show how farmers compete for the appropriation of the greatest possible share of this rent.

Integrated groundwater management: An overview of concepts and challenges

Managing water is a grand challenge problem and has become one of humanity’s foremost priorities. Surface water resources are typically societally managed and relatively well understood; groundwater resources, however, are often hidden and more difficult to conceptualize. Replenishment rates of groundwater cannot match past and current rates of depletion in many parts of the world. In addition, declining quality of the remaining groundwater commonly cannot support all agricultural, industrial and urban demands and ecosystem functioning, especially in the developed world. In the developing world, it can fail to even meet essential human needs. The issue is: how do we manage this crucial resource in an acceptable way, one that considers the sustainability of the resource for future generations and the socioeconomic and environmental impacts? In many cases this means restoring aquifers of concern to some sustainable equilibrium over a negotiated period of time, and seeking opportunities for better managing groundwater conjunctively with surface water and other resource uses. However, there are many, often-interrelated, dimensions to managing groundwater effectively. Effective groundwater management is underpinned by sound science (biophysical and social) that actively engages the wider community and relevant stakeholders in the decision making process. Generally, an integrated approach will mean “thinking beyond the aquifer”, a view which considers the wider context of surface water links, catchment management and cross-sectoral issues with economics, energy, climate, agriculture and the environment. The aim of the book is to document for the first time the dimensions and requirements of sound integrated groundwater management (IGM). The primary focus is on groundwater management within its system, but integrates linkages beyond the aquifer. The book provides an encompassing synthesis for researchers, practitioners and water resource managers on the concepts and tools required for defensible IGM, including how IGM can be applied to achieve more sustainable socioeconomic and environmental outcomes, and key challenges of IGM. The book is divided into five parts: integration overview and problem settings; governance; socioeconomics; biophysical aspects; and modelling and decision support. However, IGM is integrated by definition, thus these divisions should be considered a convenience for presenting the topics rather than hard and fast demarcations of the topic area.

Controlling Groundwater Exploitation Through Economic Instruments: Current Practices, Challenges and Innovative Approaches

Groundwater can be considered as a common-pool resource, is often overexploited and, as a result, there are growing management pressures. This chapter starts with a broad presentation of the range of economic instruments that can be used for groundwater management, considering current practices and innovative approaches inspired from the literature on Common Pool Resources management. It then goes on with a detailed presentation of groundwater allocation policies implemented in France, the High Plains aquifer in the USA, and Chile. The chapter concludes with a discussion of social and political difficulties associated with implementing economic instruments for groundwater management.

Participatory scenario planning for sustainable irrigated agriculture when actors seldom communicate: an experiment in Morocco

ABSTRACT In Morocco, agricultural activities based on groundwater use increasingly face risks of aquifer overdraft and market saturation. However, farmers and public organizations responsible for agriculture and water resources rarely communicate to identify how these risks could be overcome. A participatory scenario-planning process was organized in a small region to identify a pathway towards agricultural activities that are sustainable in terms of groundwater resource use and profitability. Actors jointly determined this pathway thanks to the organization of preparatory workshops held separately with each actor before they met together, and the progressive integration of agriculture development and groundwater use in scenario design.

State, market or community failure? Untangling the determinants of groundwater depletion in Copiapó (Chile)

Abstract This article analyzes the factors that explain why groundwater can be over-exploited despite the existence of sophisticated water laws, institutions and effective state agencies responsible for water management. The analysis is based on a case study conducted in the Copiapó Valley in northern Chile. Based on an analysis of water use data, policy documents and interviews with a variety of stakeholders, the article highlights the state’s failure to perform some of its key missions and the ineffectiveness of groundwater users’ associations in water management despite a very supportive legal framework. The article concludes with some recommendations on how ensure long-term sustainable groundwater use.

Integrated Assessment of Economic Benefits of Groundwater Improvement with Contingent Valuation

This chapter investigates the potential and limits of the contingent valuation method for assessing the benefits of groundwater remediation or protection programs. The discussion is based on a review of the literature and on two original contingent valuation surveys conducted in France and in Belgium, in contexts where groundwater was expected to be particularly unfamiliar to respondents. Particular attention was paid to (i) people’s perception and understanding of the resource under study, and (ii) type and quantity of information provided by the questionnaire. In both cases, we show that the population is concerned about groundwater remediation or protection, especially to guarantee the wellbeing of future generations. Overall, we highlight that assessing willingness to pay through contingent valuation surveys is helpful for conducting an integrated valuation of groundwater protection benefits. However, we also point out two main limits which might restrict the relevance of the results obtained: (1) the respondents’ limited prior knowledge of groundwater and the risk that information provided by the questionnaire biases the elicitation process; and (2) two types of embedding effect, with the difficulty for respondents in considering the geographic extension of an aquifer and disentangling benefits derived from groundwater quality improvement from other environmental benefits.

Disentangling the complexity of groundwater dependent social-ecological systems

Groundwater resources are part of larger social-ecological systems. In this chapter, we review the various dimensions of these complex systems in order to uncover the diversity of elements at stake in the evolution of an aquifer and the loci for possible actions to control its dynamics. Two case studies illustrate how the state of an aquifer is embedded in a web of biophysical and sociopolitical processes. We propose here a holistic view through an IGM-scape that describes the various possible pathways of evolution for a groundwater related social-ecological system. Then we describe the elements of this IGM-scape starting with physical entities and processes, including relations with surface water and quality issues. Interactions with society bring an additional layer of considerations, including decisions on groundwater abstraction, land use changes and even energy related choices. Finally we point out the policy levers for groundwater management and their possible consequences for an aquifer, taking into account the complexity of pathways opened by these levers.

Chapter 2.3:Groundwater Management and Planning: How Can Economics Help?

Public water managers and stakeholders involved in the design of groundwater management are increasingly aware of, and concerned by, the economic implications of the technical choices they promote. The definition of sustainable groundwater quality objectives as well as the identification of technica...