Comparing the Economic and Environmental Effects of Different Water Management Schemes Using a Coupled Agent–Hydrologic Model
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 145, Issue 6
Abstract
Confronted with diverse water management schemes, policymakers in arid basins face difficulty in choosing a particular scheme due to a lack of appropriate tools to estimate possible physical and economic outcomes in a comprehensive manner. This study develops a coupled agent–hydrologic model to both capture and provide insights into the dynamics and patterns of real-world water management using the midstream area of the Heihe River Basin in northern China as a case study. Water consumption patterns, economic efficiency, and environmental externalities of three different management schemes, namely an administered scheme (AS), a surface-water market scheme (SWMS), and a surface-water–groundwater market scheme (SGWMS) are evaluated. The results show that an agent’s (irrigation district) behaviors under market schemes are determined by the difference between equilibrium price and pumping cost, related to water table depth. The annual total benefits are improved under market schemes, especially in dry years. Negative environmental effects of the market schemes do occur but are not significant. The travel time of groundwater corresponds to a delay longer than 2 months in upper agents’ pumping influence on drawdown. In general, the proposed model application in this study addresses complex real-world management issues by presenting physically interpretable and verifiable outcomes, and therefore aids policymakers in decision making by providing a broader view of water management.
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Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC0401302 and 2017YFC0404403) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91747208 and 51579129). The authors are grateful to the editors and the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and detailed suggestions, which helped substantially improve the paper.
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Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 145 • Issue 6 • June 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 26, 2018
Accepted: Nov 14, 2018
Published online: Mar 26, 2019
Published in print: Jun 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Aug 26, 2019
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