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AN IMPLICIT APPROACH TO PRICING AGRICULTURAL WATER TRANSFERS TO URBAN USES 1
Author(s) -
Walker Wynn R.,
Skogerboe Gaylord V.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1975.tb00727.x
Subject(s) - urbanization , agriculture , environmental science , effluent , farm water , reuse , wastewater , water resource management , water quality , water resources , downstream (manufacturing) , water supply , distribution (mathematics) , environmental engineering , natural resource economics , water conservation , business , economics , waste management , geography , operations management , mathematics , engineering , ecology , archaeology , economic growth , biology , mathematical analysis
ABSTRACT: The increased agricultural efficiency of the American farmer has been a substantial impetus to this nation's rapid urbanization. In many western regions where total water supplies are limited, urbanization has required the transfer of heretofore agricultural water rights to the urban use. A major problem in such transfers has been the value or price of the water. A management level model of a typical urban water system was developed to optimize water supply, distribution, and wastewater treatment alternatives. The values of agricultural transfers were determined as the cost advantages of increasing allowable reuse levels of urban effluents which imply the use of a downstream right. This procedure is justified by the economic theory of alternative cost. Results for a test application to the Denver, Colorado area indicate values on the order of $1,000 per acre‐foot of transferable water depending on effluent water quality restrictions and operational policies.