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Water diversion is critical for resolving geographical and temporal water resource imbalances and meeting regional economic and social water demands. However, an unexpected surplus of diversion water frequently results in financial challenges with loan repayment following the diversion, threatening the sustainable operation of the diversion projects. The primary cause of this phenomenon is that existing water supply policies (WSPs), including water supply system (WSS) and multi‐source water supply price (MS‐WP), no longer align with the dynamic needs of water‐receiving regions, thereby hindering efficient water resource allocation. Hence, this study develops a framework for developing WSPs appropriate for water‐receiving region utilizing price‐behavior‐benefits nexus to support evolving development goals. Firstly, the constituent elements and cost water price accounting of prevailing WSSs are emphasized for the differentiated approaches' proposal of MS‐WP within distinct WSSs. Furthermore, water price elasticity and preference calculation of multi‐source water consumption (MS‐WC) are utilized to estimate the influence of MS‐WP changes on water supply benefits (WSB). Finally, by proposing an evaluation index for the benefit synergy in the water supply process, the relationship among MS‐WP, MS‐WC and WSB are clarified to evolving development goals. Applying this framework to the water‐receiving region of the Hanjiang‐to‐Weihe Project demonstrates that the formulated WSP can increase the diversion water consumption by 48.2% and reduce local water consumption by 29.3%, while the benefits for diversion water company and local government can be increased by 55.8% and 28.9%, respectively, providing a theoretical support for scientific WSP formulation in water‐receiving regions.

As globalization links economies, the value of a country's irrigation water becomes increasingly sensitive to competitive forces in world markets. Water policy at the national and regional levels will need to accommodate these forces or water is likely to become undervalued. The inefficient use of this resource will lessen a country's comparative advantage in world markets and slow its transition to higher incomes, particularly in rural households. While professionals widely agree on what constitutes sound water resource management, they have not yet reached a consensus on the best ways of implementing policies. Policymakers have considered pricing water - a debated intervention - in many variations. Setting the price 'right,' some say, may guide different types of users in efficient water use by sending a signal about the value of this resource. Aside from efficiency, itself an important policy objective, equity, accessibility, and implementation costs associated with the right pricing must be considered. Focusing on the examples of China, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa, and Turkey, Pricing Irrigation Water provides a clear methodology for studying farm-level demand for irrigation water. This book is the first to link the macroeconomics of policies affecting trade to the microeconomics of water demand for irrigation and, in the case of Morocco, to link these forces to the creation of a water user-rights market. This type of market reform, the contributors argue, will result in growing economic benefits to both rural and urban households.

The comprehensive reform of agricultural water prices is an important policy for promoting the high-quality sustainable development of agriculture and ensuring national water security. In this study, based on farmer survey data from different water price policy implementation areas in the oasis–desert transition zone of the Heihe River Basin (HRB), crops are divided into high-water-consuming crops and low-water-consuming crops based on the average water consumption per hm2. The content of this study consists of two main parts: first, the study explores the response of farmers to different agricultural water price policies by comparing the impact of uniform water price and tiered water price policies on their planting structure. Second, it studies the areas where the tiered water price policy is implemented to verify the impact of price signals on farmers’ production decisions. The results show that, compared with the uniform water price policy, the implementation of the tiered water price policy will significantly reduce the proportion of high-water-consuming crops planted when other conditions remain unchanged. Under the tiered water price policy, the increase in water prices will reduce the proportion of farmers planting high-water-consuming crops, but the difference is not significant. This result reveals that when the opportunity cost of irrigation water increases, farmers will increase the proportion of low-water-consuming crops. The findings also indicate that a higher educational level, improved land inflow, the number of crop types, and satisfaction with the current subsidy policy will help increase the proportion of low-water-consuming crops. However, an increase in the family-cultivated land area will reduce the area of low-water-consuming crops.

Volumetric-based pricing for irrigation water was introduced as part of a comprehensive reform of agricultural water prices in China. However, operational deficiencies and farmers’ lack of willingness to adopt the volumetric pricing policy (VPP) hinder the coordinated implementation of the reform. To address these practical challenges, we employed a binary logistic regression model to analyse farmers’ acceptance of the VPP for agricultural irrigation water usage in Suqian City, Jiangsu Province. A variable set was formed by selecting potential variables from four types of influencing factors: the subject (water users), the object (water supply departments), natural condition factors, and social condition factors. Our results revealed seven factors that determine whether farmers accept the VPP: irrigation water measurement at the water inlet of a lateral canal, the irrigation water-saving rewards scale, enforcement efforts of charging by volume, the irrigation water source type, the use of agricultural water-saving for trade, financial investment in water-saving technology, and the level of irrigation water pricing. We determined the degree of influence of the seven determining factors, among which the irrigation water-saving rewards scale and enforcement efforts of charging by volume most influence farmers’ decisions on the VPP for irrigation water. The results of this study can be used as a reference for innovation of the agricultural water-saving system in Suqian City, optimisation of an accurate fiscal subsidy scale, quantification of irrigation water rights, optimisation of the measurement facility layout, and effective implementation of agricultural water rights trading. More broadly, this study provides a valuable reference for solving the difficulties faced in the comprehensive reform of agricultural water pricing in China, which includes irrigation water pricing mechanisms, management systems, subsidy mechanisms, and water-saving incentive measures.

Research on water pricing is important to effectively address the water resource crisis. The agricultural industry has the greatest water-saving potential. Using Heilongjiang Province, the main grain-producing region in China, as an example, an agricultural irrigation water price was determined based on macro and micro scales, and affordable water prices for peasants were calculated. The results show a macro-agricultural irrigation water price of 1.023 yuan/m3, indicating that the current agricultural irrigation water price does not reflect the water source value. The micro-agricultural irrigation water prices for surface water and groundwater range from 0.993 to 1.008 and from 2.343 to 2.358 yuan/m3, respectively, indicating differences in cost recovery and value. The surface water prices for maize, rice, and soybeans ranged from 0.286 to 0.476, from 0.101 to 0.179, and from 0.180 to 0.307 yuan/m3, respectively, while the appropriate groundwater prices ranged from 0.317 to 0.507, from 0.131 to 0.210, and from 0.211 to 0.337 yuan/m3, respectively. The government could formulate different subsidy policies according to the actual situation and raise agricultural irrigation water prices to the full-cost level to enable the implementation of law of value.

Much hope has been vested in pricing as a means of helping to regulate and rationalize water management, notably in the irrigation sector. The pricing of water has often been applied universally, using general and ideological policies, and not considering regional environmental and economic differences. Almost fifteen years after the emphasis laid at the Dublin and Rio conferences on treating water as an economic good, a comprehensive review of how such policies have helped manage water resources an irrigation use is necessary.The case-studies presented here offer a re-assessment of current policies by evaluating their objectives and constraints and often demonstrating their failure by not considering the regional context. They will therefore contribute to avoiding costly and misplaced reforms and help design water policies that are based on a deeper understanding of the factors which eventually dictate their effectiveness.

【Objective】 Rational allocation of water resources is a key measure to solve the problem of water resource utilization and depends on water efficiency and water equity. As the main body of agricultural production, reducing the burden of farmers’ production cost is very important to ensure farmers’ production enthusiasm and ensure food production safety. Differentiating water price will lead to the difference of farmers' water use cost and the unfairness of water use. In this regard, the analysis of the influencing factors of differentiated water prices is of great significance to reasonably control the water cost, reduce the burden of farmers, reduce the regional water cost difference, and ensure the water equity among farmers. 【Method】 Based on the data of household survey and village collective interview in Hubei Province in 2020, combining with literature review, this paper analyzes the typical problems with obvious water price differences in the region, and discusses the influencing factors of water price differences. 【Result】 The current water price standard shows diverse characteristics, and the inter regional water price difference caused by the difference of resource endowment is reasonable, but there are still great differences in water prices in regions with similar resource endowment. Through comparative analysis, it is found that the differences in water cost to farmers in the region are caused by factors such as water fee management mode, bias policy implementation and the main body of water conservancy facilities construction, which is reflected in the differences in water prices in practice. 【Conclusion】 In order to narrow the difference in water use cost within the region and ensure fairness in agricultural water use, it is suggested to reasonably formulate water use management, promote water conservancy construction in non-irrigation areas and integrate individual water conservancy facilities with multi-investment.

Forecasting supply and demand is fundamental to the sustainability of the water system. Demand for urban water seems on an ever-upward trajectory, with use increasing twice as quickly as population throughout the 20th century. However, data from Ballarat, a city in south-eastern Australia, show that despite this conventionally held wisdom, total water usage actually peaked over 30 years ago. While the 1997–2009 ‘Millennium Drought’ had some effect, the decline commenced many years before. Initially, this was due to a reduction in external domestic water use, which correlates well with an increase in water price. However, the effect was found to not be purely economic as the price was not volumetric-based. Internal water use seems more affected by technological advances and regulatory controls. Interestingly, there was no relationship found between rainfall and water demand. The role of price, water-reduction education programmes, water-efficient technology and regulation supports previous research that a multifaceted approach is required when developing demand-reduction policies and strategies. This finding emphasises the importance of understanding the component of consumptive behaviour being targeted, and ensuring that policies being implemented are appropriate for the desired behavioural change.

Sustainability of water supply services has been central to the main water supply agenda globally. In order to promote affordable, equitable, and sustainable water supply, this paper proposed a method to set the piped water price inside Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. The Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) is currently under construction inside the valley to tide over the water deficit. Domestic water use and expenditure data were obtained from a household survey of 1500 households. Post-MWSP were developed based upon per capita water use and water price. Equity and affordability were evaluated by comparing the ratio of water expenditure to total expenditure of households (expenditure ratio: ER) in each service area. The expenditure for piped water service and alternate water sources was taken into account to calculate the total water expenditure. Sustainability was measured as the ratio of operation and maintenance cost to the total revenue of the utility (Working ratio: WR). The results show that an increase in water price by approximately 54% over the current price is necessary to meet operation and maintenance costs, assuming the WR to be 0.7. Approximately 30% increase in water use (a minimum of 80 LPCD) can be maintained post MWSP. However, water use of 135 LPCD increased the ER by more than 1%, which was the threshold of water affordability and may cause ground water stress.

A review of literature during calendar year 2014 focused on environmental policies and sustainable development, and economic policies. This review is divided into these sections: sustainable development, irrigation, ecosystems and water management, climate change and disaster risk management, economic growth, water supply policies, water consumption, water price regulation, and water price valuation.