Water Reallocation Research Articles

Water transfer from irrigation tanks for urban use: can payment for ecosystem services produce efficient outcomes?

Many Indian states have begun to transfer water meant for irrigation to non-agricultural purposes, but the economic and environmental consequences are not adequately understood. Transfer of water out of water bodies from rural areas not only reduces the economic welfare of the traditional water users but also reduces their incentives to manage these water bodies on a sustainable basis. The study explores the possibility of introducing the mechanism of ‘payment for ecosystem services’ at the grass-roots level in the Indian context as a return for reallocation of water from irrigation to urban uses so that it can produce a non-zero-sum outcome for villagers, farmers, urban consumers and governments.

Managing Water: Rights, Markets, and Welfare

This article investigates key aspects related to managing water resources, and explores their implications for economic efficiency: incomplete property rights; overallocation of water; the divergence between water entitlements and productivity of water use. These issues are explored in a production model with a single input, water drawn from a common source, and two main insights are offered. First, a novel result relating welfare and water entitlements is established, an equivalence between the socially optimal and legal assignment of water rights, via a set of social weights implied by the rights assignment. It is also shown that, for water entitlements for which the divergence between productivity and entitlements is substantial, no set of valid social priorities can lead to the socially efficient allocation. Second, considering a hypothetical water market with an endogenous price, it is found that trade in water is unable to eliminate allocative inefficiency, and that taxes have unexpectedly moderate effects on trade and welfare, with the majority of tax shifts canceled out by changes in demand. In addition, trade is not effective at facilitating efficiency-enhancing reallocation of water under scarcity when entitlements diverge substantially from productivity. The results here highlight important new connections between welfare and water entitlements and the limitations of market-based instruments under incomplete property rights, and have implications for designing property rights regimes for managing water under scarcity.

Coupling of a distributed stakeholder-built system dynamics socio-economic model with SAHYSMOD for sustainable soil salinity management. Part 2: Model coupling and application

Many simulation models focus on simulating a single physical process and do not constitute balanced representations of the physical, social and economic components of a system. The present study addresses this challenge by integrating a physical (P) model (SAHYSMOD) with a group (stakeholder) built system dynamics model (GBSDM) through a component modeling approach based on widely applied tools such as MS Excel, Python and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). The coupled model (P-GBSDM) was applied to test soil salinity management scenarios (proposed by stakeholders) for the Haveli region of the Rechna Doab Basin in Pakistan. Scenarios such as water banking, vertical drainage, canal lining, and irrigation water reallocation were simulated with the integrated model. Spatiotemporal maps and economic and environmental trade-off criteria were used to examine the effectiveness of the selected management scenarios. After 20years of simulation, canal lining reduced soil salinity by 22% but caused an initial reduction of 18% in farm income, which requires an initial investment from the government. The government-sponsored Salinity Control and Reclamation Project (SCARP) is a short-term policy that resulted in a 37% increase in water availability with a 12% increase in farmer income. However, it showed detrimental effects on soil salinity in the long term, with a 21% increase in soil salinity due to secondary salinization. The new P-GBSDM was shown to be an effective platform for engaging stakeholders and simulating their proposed management policies while taking into account socioeconomic considerations. This was not possible using the physically based SAHYSMOD model alone.

Heterogeneity quantification in waterfloods using a multiphase network approach

Knowledge of reservoir heterogeneity in waterflooding is key to achieving a better sweep efficiency in a waterflooding process. However, a high degree of spatial variation in reservoir properties and a limited number of measurements make heterogeneity quantification difficult. Furthermore, the contributions of heterogeneities to waterflooding efficiency are unknown. We present a multiphase reservoir network model that can not only approximate interwell heterogeneity, but that can also be used to improve the performance of the waterflood.We develop the network model by dividing the reservoir into a number of node volumes, each of which contains a well. Flow between the node volumes is obtained by solving for the pressure field in the diffusivity equation. A network of pseudo-streamlines connecting wells (producer-injector and injector-injector) is then generated in order to map the saturation between the wells. Instead of grid properties, flow area and interwell Dykstra-Parsons coefficients for time of flight characterize flow and saturation along the streamlines. The model parameters are estimated by a history matching of the fractional-flow data. A derivative-free optimization algorithm is then used to minimize the objective function (the sum of the squared differences between the simulated and actual producer fractional flow).The approach that we present uses only injection and production rates, well positions, and well fractional-flow values, which are the most accessible data in a field. The method was tested using several reservoir models with different synthetic permeability distributions and geologic features. Results show that as interwell heterogeneity increases, Dykstra-Parsons coefficients increase, and flow areas decrease. Furthermore, frontal shock, which is a characteristic of displacement of immiscible incompressible phases, is prevented by the introduction of Dykstra-Parsons coefficients.Flow area and the time-of-flight Dykstra-Parson coefficient can be used to improve waterflood sweep efficiency. Resulting parameters also help in decision making regarding injected water reallocation, but only through a study of injection and production rates.

Impact of agricultural water reallocation on crop yield and revenue: a case study in China

Our study area in the People's Victory Canal Irrigation District of Henan Province in China has been transferring agricultural water to the city for municipal use. This study starts with an examination of the impacts of irrigation frequency, irrigation water sources, and irrigation water supply performance on crop yield and net crop revenue, using data from a survey of 182 households in the study area. Thereafter, it analyzes the impact of agricultural water reallocation (AWR) on crop yield and revenue. The study ends with an estimation of the compensation for affected farmers and a discussion of the compensation methods. Regression results indicate that irrigation frequency shows a significantly positive impact on crop yield and net crop revenue. The change of irrigation water source from canal water to well water and local small river water decreases the integrated crop yield of wheat and rice by 9% and 12%, and decreases the net integrated crop revenue by 16% and 19%, respectively. AWR decreases the integrated crop yield of wheat and rice by at least 2%, and decreases the net integrated crop revenue by at least 3.5%. Estimated compensation for affected farmers is between 78.72 and 97.85 USD/ha.

Development of a river-groundwater interaction model and its application to a catchment in Northwestern China

The river-groundwater interaction is an important component of the hydrological cycle. This study develops an integrated river-GW model that uses a one-dimensional open channel flow model and a three-dimensional saturated GW flow model to describe the dynamic river-GW relationship at the basin scale, as well as groundwater flow and streamflow in arid regions. The model is tested with three cases, and the good agreement between the simulated and observed results demonstrates that the model can be used to simulate river-GW interactions. The integrated river-GW model is applied to the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin and is calibrated using multi-source field data, including hydraulic heads from observation wells, streamflow, and spring flow. The case studies in the Heihe River Basin find that the following: (1) the river-GW relationships vary seasonally and spatially and depend on many factors, such as the river flow and GW uses; (2) in the middle reaches, the annual mean river–groundwater flux exchange from Yinluoxia to the Heihe Bridge is approximately 17% of the mean streamflow and increases to more than 49% from the Heihe Bridge to Zhengyixia; and (3) after the implementation of the water reallocation plan in 2000, the river-GW relationship in some reaches changed from a gaining stream to a losing stream due to the increase of GW abstraction. These findings suggest that GW pumpage should be controlled rationally and demonstrate that the integrated river-GW model can be used to analyse the temporal-spatial trends of river-groundwater interaction in arid regions.

An overview of water reallocation and the barriers to its implementation

The growing number of areas facing water scarcity necessitates adaptive water management strategies beyond traditional water supply and demand management methods, which are becoming increasingly difficult in many regions. Water reallocation offers a flexible water management approach to mitigate water scarcity under changing socioeconomic, climatic, and environmental conditions. In spite of the numerous benefits of reallocating water between users, examples of successful water transfers are relatively sparse and the expected benefits are rarely met in full due to several complex impediments. This study overviews the current body of water reallocation literature, with a particular focus on the key barriers to wider implementation of water reallocation. We argue that to overcome these obstacles a more interdisciplinary approach to water reallocation should be advanced that couples developments in the natural sciences and engineering disciplines with current water reallocation scholarship, which is predominately rooted in the social sciences. Many examples of water transfers from around the world are used to illustrate both the benefits and challenges associated with reallocation, as well as to identify measures to overcome some of the major difficulties. We conclude by calling for an integrated research platform that focuses on supporting both voluntary and nonvoluntary forms of water reallocation; however, a greater emphasis should be on nonmarket means of water transfer since it is more feasible for many regions where water rights are not well defined and institutional capacity is insufficient. WIREs Water 2016, 3:658–677. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1159This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Planning Water Human Water > Water Governance Human Water > Water as Imagined and Represented

Using proportional modeling to evaluate irrigator preferences for market‐based water reallocation

AbstractIrrigators’ policy preferences for water reallocation programs usually take the form of proportional data, where one option will be relatively more or less favored than another in the composition of a government's total budget apportionment to address water reform. This study applies a zero‐one inflated beta regression to model Murray–Darling Basin irrigators’ preferences for market‐based water policy programs. Market‐based arrangements are more likely to provide efficient solutions to water reallocation problems, particularly where future uncertainty and appropriate pricing induce irrigator preferences for such programs. Our modeling of drivers of irrigator preferences for government expenditure on market‐based programs identified different determinants of zero (a corner solution) and proportional outcomes for the reallocation of Murray–Darling Basin water. In addition, the proportional modeling identifies some variables (namely, state regional influences, the type of farm production and recent debt, low income, or water allocation stressors) that increase engagement with market‐based programs. Interestingly, while price variables are important and statistically significant, they appear to be less relevant to program engagement than other influences.

Is river rehabilitation economically viable in water-scarce basins?

Decisions on river rehabilitation actions are often based on cost-benefit analyses taking into account the costs and benefits of the considered management actions, but ecosystem services are often not included as benefits, despite recent evidences on the effects of river rehabilitations on ecosystem services. A cost-benefit analysis integrating market and non-market costs and benefits was undertaken in this study to assess the economic feasibility of a river rehabilitation project in a water scarce region, the Yarqon River Rehabilitation project (Israel). In this case, the costs included both the capital costs of implementing rehabilitation measures (including maintenance costs) and the opportunity costs of water allocation (foregone benefits to farmers from water provisioning for agriculture). The benefits of rehabilitation included the net marginal benefits of the cultural ecosystem services at local scale (estimated with a hedonic pricing method), and at regional scale (estimated with a value function transfer), in addition to the habitat service gene-pool protection (estimated with a replacement cost method). Bearing in mind the uncertainties surrounding water resource management decisions, especially in water scarce areas, a sensitivity and risk analysis was conducted using an analysis that included both Monte Carlo simulations and the standardized regression coefficients method. The rehabilitation of the Yarqon River provided positive net present values (approximately $139 million in 30-year period). This was thanks to the provision of cultural ecosystem services and despite the high rehabilitation costs, and that the massive water reallocation involved high foregone benefits to farmers. Therefore, these results highlight that river rehabilitation in water scarce regions can be economically viable due to the social amenity demand for urban rivers.

The role of rainfed agriculture in securing food production in the Nile Basin

A better use of land and water resources will be necessary to meet the increasing demand for food in the Nile basin. Using a hydro-economic model along the storyline of three future political cooperation scenarios, we show that the future of food production in the Basin lies not in the expansion of intensively irrigated areas and the disputed reallocation of water, but in utilizing the vast forgotten potential of rainfed agriculture in the upstream interior, with supplemental irrigation where needed. Our results indicate that rainfed agriculture can cover more than 75% of the needed increase in food production by the year 2025. Many of the most suitable regions for rainfed agriculture in the Nile basin, however, have been destabilized by recent war and civil unrest. Stabilizing those regions and strengthening intra-basin cooperation via food trade seem to be better strategies than unilateral expansion of upstream irrigation, as the latter will reduce hydropower generation and relocate, rather than increase, food production.

Dynamics of water reallocation and cost implications in the transboundary setting of Ferghana Province

While in the international literature water sharing in the Syr Darya Basin per past agreements is widely portrayed as most benefiting Uzbekistan, here the dynamics of water allocation within small transboundary tributaries in Ferghana Province show Uzbekistan as benefiting least. The case study highlights that water allocation for Uzbekistan within the tributaries has decreased over the years. Uzbekistan's approach to compensate for the reduced allocations by means of other water sources has had large long-term cost implications for irrigated agriculture as well as the irrigation bureaucracy. This article contributes to the international debate on benefit sharing in transboundary rivers. The article highlights that costs should be incorporated into the benefit-sharing approach, and therefore the focus on benefit sharing alone is misguiding riparian states. Furthermore, the article raises the need to reevaluate benefits, since perceptions of potential benefits change over time.

Social resolution of conflicts over water resources allocation in a river basin using cooperative game theory approaches: a case study

ABSTRACTIn this paper, cooperative game theory (CGT) approaches are used for water allocation in a river basin considering equity benefit shares among stakeholders. An optimization model is initially developed for allocating water to competing users including agricultural, industrial, and environmental users based on both economic objectives. The model is implemented to determine water shares for different likely coalitions among water users. Then, CGT approaches such as Shapely, Nucleolus, and Nash-Harsanyi are used for reallocating net profits to the users as an attempt to encourage them to participate in equitable cooperation. Finally, the results of different game theoretic approaches are evaluated using the stability index and voting methods such as social choice and fallback bargaining. The proposed methodology is applied to the Zayandehrood River basin located in central part of Iran which struggles with water scarcity. The different CGT approaches applied to two predefined real-life scenarios in the basin under study and their performance were evaluated. The results indicate the proper performance of both Nash-Harsanyi and Shapely methods for pessimist and optimistic scenarios, respectively. It is also found that application of the proposed methodology effectively increases the users’ benefits in the study region through optimal water allocation and reallocation of benefits.

Reallocating Water: An Application of Sequential Sharing Rules to Cyprus

Water scarcity has become a major constraint on economic development in many regions of the world and sectoral water reallocation is now widely recognized as an essential step toward the sustainable management of water resources. This paper offers an approach to the reallocation of water among sectors based on sequential sharing rules. An essential feature of this approach is that it takes jointly into account a multiplicity of aspects which are critical to many water reallocation problems, but have often been neglected by the theoretical literature. Such aspects include pre-existing customary (or other) rights, scarcity constraints, the chronological order of sectors’ arrivals and environmental water demand. In doing so, our framework can help achieve a solution which is not only more efficient, but also perceived as legitimate and fair. Sequential sharing rules can be used to support or complement other approaches to water allocation, including those based on water markets. Our framework is illustrated using an application to inter-sectoral water reallocation in Cyprus.

Key Challenges and Opportunities for Conjunctive Management of Surface and Groundwater in Mega-Irrigation Systems: Lower Indus, Pakistan

This paper focuses on the scope of conjunctive management in the Lower Indus part of the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS), and the contribution this could make towards food security and socio-economic development. The total Gross Command Area (GCA) of the Lower Indus is 5.92 Mha, with a cultivable command area (CCA) of 5.43 Mha, most of which is in Sindh Province. There is a limited use of groundwater in Sindh (about 4.3 Billion Cubic Meter (BCM)) for two reasons: first, there is a large area where groundwater is saline; and second, there is a high surface irrigation supply to most of the canal commands, e.g., average annual supply to rice command is 1723 mm, close to the annual reference crop evapotranspiration for the area, while there is an additional annual rainfall of about 200 mm. These high irrigation allocations, even in areas where groundwater is fresh, create strong disincentives for farmers to use groundwater. Consequently, areas are waterlogged to the extent of 50% and 70% before and after the monsoon, respectively, which contributes to surface salinity through capillary rise. In Sindh, about 74%–80% of the available groundwater recharge is lost in the form of non-beneficial evaporation. This gives rise to low cropping intensities and yields compared to fresh groundwater areas elsewhere in the IBIS. The drought of 1999–2002 has demonstrated a reduction in waterlogging without any corresponding reduction in crop yields. Therefore, in order to efficiently meet current water requirements of all the sectors, i.e., agriculture, domestic and industrial, an ab initio level of water reallocation and efficient water management, with consideration to groundwater quality and its safe yield, in various areas are recommended. This might systematically reduce the waterlogged areas, support greater cropping intensity than is currently being practiced, and free up water for horizontal expansion, such as in the Thar Desert.

Irrigator and Environmental Water Management Adaptation to Climate Change and Water Reallocation in the Murray–Darling Basin

In an earlier paper (Kirby et al. 2014a), we showed that climate change and a new policy which reallocates water to the environment will impact both the flow of water and the income derived from irrigation in the Murray–Darling Basin. Here, we extend the analysis to consider irrigator and environmental water management strategies to adapt to these new circumstances. Using an integrated hydrology-economics model, we examine a range of strategies and their impact on flows and the gross income of irrigation. We show that the adaptation strategies provide a range of flow and economic outcomes in the Basin. Several strategies offer significant scope to enhance flows without large adverse impacts on the gross income of irrigation overall. Some environmental water management strategies enhance flows in the Murray part of the basin even under the drying influence of a projected median climate change. Irrigator strategies that include carryover of water in storage from one year to the next provide for lesser year to year variability in gross income and may be regarded as more advantageous in providing security against droughts. Flows and the gross income of low value irrigation industries strategies are sensitive to climate change, irrespective of adaptation strategy. Should a projected dry extreme climate change be realized, no strategy can prevent a large reduction in flows and also in gross income, particularly of low value irrigation industries. Nevertheless, environmental water management strategies mitigate the impact on flows, and in some cases may also help mitigate the impacts on gross income. High value irrigation industries are less affected (in terms of gross income, though net income will reduce because of rising water prices) by projected climate change, consistent with observation in the recent long term drought.

The fluid nature of water grabbing: the on-going contestation of water distribution between peasants and agribusinesses in Nduruma, Tanzania

This article contributes to the contemporary debate on land and water grabbing through a detailed, qualitative case study of horticultural agribusinesses which have settled in Tanzania, disrupting patterns of land and water use. In this paper we analyse how capitalist settler farms and their upstream and downstream peasant neighbours along the Nduruma river, Tanzania, expand and defend their water use. The paper is based on 3 months of qualitative field work in Tanzania. We use the echelons of rights analysis framework combined with the concept of institutional bricolage to show how this contestation takes place over the full spectrum of actual abstractions, governance and discourses. We emphasise the role different (inter)national development narratives play in shaping day-to-day contestations over water shares and rule-making. Ultimately, we emphasise that water grabbing is not a one-time event, but rather an on-going struggle over different water resources. In addition, we show how a perceived beneficial development of agribusinesses switching to groundwater allows them to avoid peasant-controlled institutions, avoiding further negotiation between the different actors and improving their image among neighbouring communities. This development illustrates how complex and obscured processes of water re-allocation can be without becoming illegal per se.

Exploring Generational Differences Towards Water Resources and Policy Preferences of Water Re-Allocation in Alberta, Canada

It is a challenging task for policy makers to design optimal water resource management policies that accommodate increasing demand while minimizing social and environmental impacts of water extraction. We used four surveys of the general community and irrigators in Alberta’s South-Saskatchewan River Basin to explore the values people assign to water and their preferences for water re-allocation policies, focusing particularly on generational differences. The findings suggest that significant generational differences exist: with the younger generation more environmentally concerned, although it favoured less government intervention in water re-allocation. Generational differences also exist regarding residential and irrigation water use values, and in policy preferences for how to protect the environment and the rights of existing water right holders (irrigators). It was also found that urban–rural context and economic dependence (farmers versus non-farmers) on water mediate generational differences in values and preferences.

California Water Enters an Era of Limits

The state of California uses more groundwater and more surface water than any other state (Maupin et al. 2014) but an era of limits is now arriving with dramatic consequences. Despite warning signs over the last decades and multiple legislative and management efforts, California’s water supply is now in a crisis stage. With snowpack at 5% of normal in the Sierras, the lowest snowpack in recorded history, Governor Jerry Brown imposed mandatory water use restrictions on cities and towns across California on April 1, 2015. The Governor required an average 25% cut in water use as part of a sweeping set of drought responses. In 2013, Brown requested voluntary cuts in water use, but most parts of the state have failed to attain them (Megerian, Stevens and Boxall 2013). Of note is the fact that these new restrictions focus on urban use, not agriculture, even though agriculture uses about three-quarters of the water in California. Agricultural water users have already been hit very hard by the California drought, however, with many junior water rights holders receiving no water deliveries at all. Last year farmers left about 500,000 acres unplanted for lack of water, and this year the California Department of Food and Agriculture estimates that more than 560,000 acres were fallowed, with direct economic losses of over a billion dollars (CDFA, 2015). One of the most frightening aspects of this situation is the pace at which the water supply situation has deteriorated. Droughts in the early 1990s led to multiple management responses, including significant municipal conservation programs, reallocation of water from agriculture to the environment through the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, establishment of a state water bank, expansion of the use of municipal effluent, and a series of water transfers between agricultural J Extreme Events, Vol. 2, No. 1 (2015) 1502003 (3 pages) © World Scientific Publishing Company DOI: 10.1142/S2345737615020030

Optimization of inter-sectorial water reallocation for arid-zone megacity-dominated area

Current water demand management of megacity-dominated areas in arid-zones should be revised to optimize water allocation for sustainable development. A novel hierarchical optimization model is proposed and examined for such an area in the arid zone of Iran. The model can significantly increase water economic efficiency, reduce unsatisfied demand, and maintain necessary agricultural production. Model sub-optimization provides the cropping pattern and transient four-phenological-stage deficit-irrigation strategy that maximizes economic benefit per unit agricultural allocation. The model employs a nonlinear benefit function for industry, a linear benefit function for service, and a cubic benefit function for deficit-irrigated agriculture. If available water is unchanged, optimal economic benefit increases 283 percent from the current situation. This requires decreasing agricultural water allocation, changing cropping patterns, using deficit irrigation, and increasing development of industrial and service sectors. If annual available water decreases by 25%, or by 40%, net economic benefit can increase 101% and 19%, respectively.

The potential of water markets to allocate water between industry, agriculture, and public water utilities as an adaptation mechanism to climate change

One of the climate change scenarios that have been developed for the Netherlands predicts hotter and drier summers and a substantial drop in river discharge. This might lead to water scarcity with detrimental economic and environmental effects. Among the possible adaptation responses to climate change-induced water scarcity, the re-allocation of water resources among competing uses should also be considered. In this paper, we extend and apply a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to assess the potential of water markets (water allocation according to its shadow price) to guide the allocation of scarce water across agriculture, manufacturing, and public water supply. We develop four scenarios in which the scope of water markets is increased from industry-specific to economy-wide. The results show that the agricultural sector bears nearly all of the losses from a new water-scarce climate, while the manufacturing sectors are able to mitigate their losses to a large extent by technical measures. Extending the scope of water markets unambiguously increases economic output and results in a re-allocation of water to the manufacturing sector from the agricultural sector and from public water services. If, perhaps for political reasons, public water services are excluded from water trading, water is re-allocated from agriculture to manufacturing. Depending on which sectors are included, the construction of a water market can have negative or positive effects on a sector’s output, and although the implementation of water markets may be positive for overall economic output and can hence assist adaptation, the effect on vulnerable or societally sensitive economic sectors, such as public water, should be taken into account when implementing such a market.