Water Valuation
Canadians reap the benefits of having an abundance of good quality water. In some cases, however, decisions regarding water resource allocation, quantity allocation decisions or investments in quality improvement, need to be made. A better understanding o
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Water Valuation Diane P. Dupont and Wiktor L. Adamowicz
Abstract Canadians reap the benefits of having an abundance of good quality water. In some cases, however, decisions regarding water resource allocation, quantity allocation decisions or investments in quality improvement, need to be made. A better understanding of the economic value of water would be helpful in these decision contexts. However, most of the values associated with water are not easily calculated since the benefits arise from goods/services for which there are no explicit markets or market prices, and values vary over space and time and differ across people. The goals of this chapter are threefold: (1) briefly outline and provide a critical assessment of the approach and methods associated with the Total Economic Value (TEV) framework for obtaining non-market water values; (2) illustrate a number of case studies of whether or not (and how) market and non-market values have been used for the purposes of allocating water or making investments in improved water management; and (3) identify important gaps in both available data and information for applying valuation information to support policy analysis. In particular, the chapter focuses on policy around improvements in water quality and aquatic ecosystems. The chapter concludes with an evaluation of the availability of Canadian water value estimates. This reveals both data and information gaps. The chapter discusses the importance of filling these gaps, along with the need to develop a systematic approach to their use in policy discussions around water quality, in particular.
D.P. Dupont (*) Department of Economics and Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University, PL 441, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada e-mail: [email protected] W.L. Adamowicz Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology, University of Alberta, 515 General Services Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H1, Canada e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 S. Renzetti, D.P. Dupont (eds.), Water Policy and Governance in Canada, Global Issues in Water Policy 17, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42806-2_10
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D.P. Dupont and W.L. Adamowicz
Introduction
The allocation of water resources, and the development of policies and regulations to address water quality concerns, requires information on tradeoffs. Determination of minimum instream flows in the rivers in irrigated areas, or in oil sands mining areas, requires assessment of the costs and benefits of different levels of flow. In the oil sands context, the benefits of maintaining instream flows include the maintenance of ecological function and the provision of ecosystem services such as fishing by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. The costs of increasing instream flows include the increased costs to industry if water is unavailable in times of low flow (Mannix et al. 2014). Economic values provide measures of tradeoffs, and provide a way to compare costs and benefits in
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