Showing papers on "Water scarcity published in 1976"

Pricing as a means of controlling the use of water resources

Abstract: As sources of water become scarcer and more difficult to exploit, and as surface and groundwater pollution increases, unit costs of water can be expected to rise. This necessitates efforts to ensure that ever scarcer water resoures are not used wastefully. An important means for conserving water is to apply pricing policies that reflect the real resource costs that are incurred as a result of additional consumption. This paper will discuss the role of pricing in a number of contexts related to water resources, namely electric power; water supply; irrigation and water pollution. In each case, the costs which are relevant for influencing consumer behavior by pricing policy are the value of resources which are made unavailable for other purposes. This depends on the supply of water, whether for direct consumption, for the generation of power or for irrigation.