Tradeoffs between water uses and environmentalflows: a hydroeconomic analysis in the Ebro basin

Crespo, Daniel ; Albiac, Jose (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Kahil, Taher ; Esteban, Encarna (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Baccour, Safa

Resumen: Environmental water uses and their social values have been mostly overlooked in traditional water management over the last few decades, and recently, the maintenance of environmental flows has been considered a key issue in water policies. Addressing the more sustainable management of water resources involves introducing new water allocation policies. However, these policies are often associated with tradeoffs across sectors, stakeholders, and spatial locations. This study aims to evaluate the tradeoffs and political economy aspects of allocating water among economic water uses and environmental flows in water-scarce river basins. An empirical analysis has been conducted in the Ebro River basin (Spain) as a case study, where an intense debate on the environmental flow allocation of the Ebro mouth is taking place. The study uses a hydroeconomic model that includes the major water uses in the Ebro to analyze the effects of different water allocation policies under combinations of water availability and environmental flow scenarios. The results of this study highlight the importance of assessing the opportunity costs and political implications of reallocating water from economic activities to the environment under impending climate change impacts. Moreover, the results indicate that well-functioning water allocation policies should be not only economically efficient but also socially acceptable to reduce the likelihood of failure of water reallocation to the environment.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-019-02254-3

Año: 2019

Publicado en: WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT 33, 7 (2019), 2301–2317
ISSN: 0920-4741

Factor impacto JCR: 2.924 (2019)

Categ. JCR: ENGINEERING, CIVIL rank: 28 / 134 = 0.209 (2019) - Q1 - T1
Categ. JCR: WATER RESOURCES rank: 25 / 94 = 0.266 (2019) - Q2 - T1

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 1.007 - Water Science and Technology (Q1) - Civil and Structural Engineering (Q1)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/ECONATURA
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/INIA/RTA2014-00050-00-00

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Fund. Análisis Económico (Dpto. Análisis Económico)