Abstract
The Ebinur Lake Basin is one of the few lakes in the arid area of northwest China where water shortages have always been an important factor hindering development. Therefore, this study takes as its objective an investigation of water prices as the main economic factor that restricts the sustainable utilization of water resources to explore the economic affordability of water prices for farmers. Furthermore, the study attempts to determine the appropriate range of prices for water price reform. In this study, a questionnaire was designed to survey 210 agricultural water users in Wenquan County, Bole City, and Jinghe County, areas where agricultural activities are relatively concentrated in the vicinity of the Ebinur Lake Basin. Based on the data from the field survey, the range of economic affordability for farmers in the Ebinur Lake Basin was categorized by the ELES model; according to the analysis method of water tolerability index, a suitable water price standard for farmers’ reform was obtained. The results show that (1) 97% of the farm households have the ability to pay irrigation water prices and only 3% do not have the ability to pay and (2) economically affordable water prices for farm households range from 79 to 143 €/hm2, the latitude for raising water prices is 64 €/hm2, and the adjustable range of unit water pricing is between 0.014 and 0.042 €/m3. It can be seen that increasing water prices is feasible.
Highlights
Water resources are indispensable natural resources for human survival and evolution, and an environmental resource necessary for the survival of all life on Earth
Through the administration of questionnaires to the farmers around the Ebinur Lake Basin in Xinjiang, this paper describes the basic status of farmers in Wenquan County, Bole City, and Jinghe County and uses the extended linear expenditure system (ELES) model to analyze the overall income and expenditure patterns of farmers in this area, the basic consumption demand expenditure patterns and the criteria defining payment ability levels
An index analysis method for water price bearing capacity is employed to calculate the range of water prices that are affordable for farmers and the suitable adjustment space
Summary
Water resources are indispensable natural resources for human survival and evolution, and an environmental resource necessary for the survival of all life on Earth. Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping first put forward the idea of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, stating accelerating the construction of an ecological civilization as the key task for economic work in 2018. He proposed that to make the waters green and the mountains golden and silver, we should first restore the green waters and the mountains, carry out major projects for ecological protection and restoration defined in the 13th Five-Year Plan, launch large-scale land greening, reform the system of ecological civilization, establish and improve the property rights system of natural resources assets, and establish a market-oriented and diversified ecological compensation mechanism
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