Abstract
Growing depletion of groundwater resources is a global threat and intensified under improper water valuation systems. Here, we proposed an irrigation water valuation framework based on the opportunity cost concept (IWVF), to better differentiate the value of surface water, renewable, and nonrenewable groundwater. In this study, a 10-years dataset was used in Marvdasht-Kharameh irrigation networks (MKINs) in southern Iran, where groundwater depletion overshoots the sustainable level with an annual average rate of 1.42 m y−1. Irrigation water use, net incomes and losses, and economic water productivities (EWP) were estimated under the common and newly developed valuation methods. The reflections of adopting IWVF on EWPs were assessed under current condition and the proposed WP improvement scenarios, including removing irrigation efficiency gaps, changing the cropping calendar, and application of different levels of deficit irrigation. Results showed that the value of irrigation water supply ($436.91 million) exceeds gross income through crop production ($139.01 million) under current condition, which results in a net loss of $297.9 million in the study area. Hence, economic WP loss will be −0.33 $ m−3, meaning that consuming a unit of blue water causes $0.33 income loss under current condition. Applying WP improvement scenarios can reduce value of irrigation water by 27%, and gross income by 5.3%. Accordingly, common WP can increase by 6.6% from 1.81 to 1.93 kg m−3. However, the negative sign of EWP loss under management scenarios (−0.22 $ m−3) indicates that crop production in the study area is not viable due to its considerable environmental damages. Hence, current irrigation system should be revisited when sustainable agriculture is considered. The proposed water valuation method can help decision makers to better assess the consequences of WP improvement strategies, if the true value of different water resources is ignored.
Keywords
nonrenewable groundwater resources; opportunity cost; irrigation water valuation; environmental deterioration; economic water productivity
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