Economics of Water Quality and Wastewater Control

Water is an important concern in our socioeconomic systems because of its multiple use potentials, the varieties of human needs it can satisfy, and the increasing costs and difficulties of providing adequate quality water. Larger populations and improving technologies now require water producers to seek the lowest possible delivery costs and the solutions to a maximum number of socioeconomic problems for all forms of water production. The economist believes that water production in any situation should not be related to the solution of a single kind of problem, such as providing more irrigation water, but to the varieties of problems associated with water needs. Water production planning should consider: (1) the socioeconomic problems to be solved; (2) the contributions of water to their solution; (3) the costs and net benefits to particular groups and to society associated with each solution; (4) the willingness and capacities of each group to accept various cost-benefit tradeoffs; and (5) the solutions-matrices associated with each problem.