Economic Value of Environmental Services Regulating Flow and Maintaining Water Quality in the Piracicaba River Basin, Brazil
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 149, Issue 9
Abstract
From distributed or semidistributed hydrological models, it is possible to identify where land use decisions can bring greater economic benefits in relation to water use. This study aimed to integrate simulations of a hydrological model varying the land use in four reforestation scenarios that influence the economic benefits of provision environmental services, including the user’s alternatives as a key parameter and finally estimating the economic value of such benefits. The “avoided costs” method was used for economic valuation of flow regularization service and adequacy of water quality in the Piracicaba River basin, aiming to generate various economic instruments to support decision makers. The cost for water storage was estimated from the rising rain volume infiltrating the soil from the change in the dynamics of land use, whereas the cost of maintaining water quality was obtained from the variation between the effects of scenarios in nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment loads. The valuation methodology allowed us to estimate the avoided costs, which will mainly contribute to application of economic instruments to manage water resources, directing land use decisions in hydrographic basins, guiding environmental impact assessment studies, and the definition of mitigation measures.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the State of São Paulo University/“Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel [Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior–Brasil (CAPES)] Finance Code [001].
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Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 149 • Issue 9 • September 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 5, 2022
Accepted: May 9, 2023
Published online: Jul 12, 2023
Published in print: Sep 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Dec 12, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Basins
- Benefit cost ratios
- Bodies of water (by type)
- Business management
- Economic factors
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Financial management
- Flow (fluid dynamics)
- Fluid dynamics
- Fluid mechanics
- Hydrologic engineering
- Hydrologic models
- Infrastructure
- Land use
- Models (by type)
- Practice and Profession
- River flow
- Urban and regional development
- Urban areas
- Water and water resources
- Water management
- Water quality
- Water storage
- Water supply
- Water supply systems
- Water treatment
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