Economics of Water Management in North China Plain: Water Resources Policy and Planning in Haihe Plain, 1985
By McGurk, Dr. Stephen James, Stanford University, 1990, page 483; AAT 90 17888
abstract:
Since the late 1950s, great changes have taken place in the ecological conditions of Haihe Plain in China. Before1980s, the Haihe plain in China was often damaged by floods. By1980s, the surface channels of the plain had dried up except the water flowing out, and the groundwater level dropped sharply, and a serious groundwater level drop was taking shape. The industrial production capacity of water shortage is greatly reduced. The urban rationing system began to be implemented, and farmers turned to wastewater irrigation. Water conflicts are everywhere.
These changes are responses to population growth, economic development and agricultural system reform. Resource managers have not fully understood or foreseen the changes in the ordinary water cycle. On the contrary, resource policy has always been passive and temporary. China's water resources planning lacks the analysis and separation of farmers' and planners' economic behaviors, ignores the externalities existing in the joint use system, and does not fully discuss farmers' responses to policies.
In this study, a deterministic and steady-state mathematical model is developed, which is multi-level in structure and uses tax means to analyze the externalities contained in the water use system in the plain. The behavior of policy makers and farmers is obvious at different levels of the model. Directly simulate the reaction of the farm to the policy. Policy change is manifested in the change of model structure or parameters. Some constraints restrict policy makers rather than farmers. These are translated into taxes or subsidies for farmers' water-related activities.
The experimental results show that the comprehensive control of plain water system has brought great productivity and income. These benefits are realized by increasing the diversion to the downstream saline-alkali areas, changing the planting pattern, reducing the peak water demand and improving the utilization rate of monsoon precipitation. These results are based on the conservative estimation of water supply, and are robust to the great changes of factors and product prices, water loss parameters, groundwater depth and resource allocation. They require the use of complex joint river aquifer management techniques to ensure effective water distribution. Specifically, public control of groundwater extraction through subsidies or taxes and investment in drainage projects are the key elements of the best coordinated management of surface water and groundwater in plain areas.
I am a registered member of the British Academic Council Electronic Library. I have the world's largest online electronic publication and a wealth of the latest academic papers (English) for reference. At present, there are 355 publishing houses' 19604 publications.
Qq Contact: 10 145224