Final Learning Workshop for GEF MENARID Project

June 16-18, 2014– Beirut, Lebanon

Groundwater economics

lbouchaou@gmail.com l.bouchaou@uiz.acma

Prof Lhoussaine Bouchaou, University Ibn Zohr of Agadir, MoroccoPresident of Mroccan Chapter of IAH

Third Learning Workshop for GEF MENARID Project Managers

“Groundwater economics”10- 12 December 2013 – Agadir, Morocco

Main points highlighted and discussed

During

Mrs Lucilla Minelli, UNESCO-IHP, l.minelli@unesco.org Prof Lhoussaine Bouchaou, University of Agadir, lbouchaou@gmail.com

Problematic GW water resources Economics:

Scarcity and physical aspects

Level Depletion and quality deterioration (overexploitation under global changes and human pressure

Renewability for long term sustainability

Water resources management

Governance and politic aspects (managing people)

Lack of leadership for guardian

Sectors using gw, type of values and drivers

• Irrigated agriculture• Drinking water for livestock• Mining • Manufacturing and other industries• Water Supply• Households• …

Sectors of the economy that use groundwater:

Discussion The central questions to answer are:

• What is the contribution of groundwater to the economy of a country? What is the monetary value that groundwater produces in different sectors?

• How can you raise the importance of groundwater by assigning an economic value to the resource?

• How much drainable groundwater is available in the aquifers?

• How much is the economy depending on groundwater? If there was no more/less groundwater (especially in arid regions) –

• what would be the cost of alternative sources of water supply (desalination, waste water treatment and reuse, import of water?)

• How the groundwater resources will develop under the pressure of global change?

• Which management or economic options can be derived?

• How to convince the users?• Shifting to new irrigation techniques (supporting

costs…)• Participative approaches (Aquifer contract,

cooperative…successful….)• Valuing GW as product for livelihoods,

socioeconomic, • What’s strategy at the international, national and

local scale?

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020Année

m3/hab/an

PE

NU

RIE

ST

RE

SS

Maroc

Souss-Massa

Water ressources in the world

Note: Les ressources renouvelables correspond à la quantité maximale estimée d’eau disponible pour un pays dans une année moyenne (sur une période de référence longue) Source: Nations Unies (Rapport Mondial sur l’Eau, 2006), Aquastat, www.fao.org (Max: >1 Mm³ / yr)

Many countries in MENA region are less thanThreshold of water scarcity of 1000

m3/capita/yr

Available renewable water resources(m³/capita/yr)0 10.000 12.500 15.000 17.500 20.000 22.5002.500 25.000 27.500 30.000 32.5005.000 7.500

Maroc (730)

Tunisie

Mauritanie (fleuve Sénégal)

Turquie (2 967)

Algérie

EgypteLiban

Russie(30 299)

Jordanie

society

economic development

environment

water

scientific and Governmental authorities– biogeography and evolutionary interest- Provide important environment infos

Activities that imply the extraction of water: tourism, agriculture, mining….

INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT BY THE DIFFERENT SECTORS

Expected achievements: Agreements on the equitable use of water Avoid desertification and degradation of soils - Improvements of irrigation systems Avoid rural exodus – Prevision of new economic alternatives New technologies for a sustainable use of water

Valuing groundwater• Globally, water issues have always been economic issues. • Groundwater Economics explore the application of

economic evaluation and cost/benefit analysis for the use, protection, remediation and conservation of groundwater, considering the major economic uses of and demand for groundwater, ecosystem context, groundwater policy and decisions, and groundwater sustainability.

• It requires a multi-disciplinary approach that takes into

account the many interdependencies between groundwater and food, environment, energy, development,…

There are four key drivers of the value of groundwater:

•SCARCITY: The price for water generally reflects the physical costs to supply the water (such as piping infrastructure and treatment plants) and not the actual value of the water itself. When water is scarce, people will tend to value it more highly. •COST OF ALTERNATIVE WATER RESOURCES: The value of groundwater will be significantly influenced by the availability of alternative water sources and associated costs. •QUALITY: The value of groundwater will also depend on its quality, especially in terms of salinity levels and pollutant concentration. Different users will place different values on groundwater quality. •RELIABILITY: In comparison to surface water, which is generally dependent on short term rainfall, groundwater is less influenced by short term climatic variability than surface water systems and consequently provides a useful ‘buffer’ in times of reduced surface water allocations.

Drivers of value

GROUNDWATER GROUNDWATER

for life and livelihoodsfor life and livelihoods• enormous social benefits from

use in urban and rural water-supply

• many countries now have large groundwater-dependent economies

GROUNDWATER VITAL FOR FOOD PRODUCTION irrigated agriculture – the major user and consumeragriculture – the major user and consumer

• farmer control, drought reliability, sediment farmer control, drought reliability, sediment freefree• critical to improving rural livelihoods at critical to improving rural livelihoods at subsistence level subsistence level • in commercial agriculture its use generates in commercial agriculture its use generates more crops and jobs per drop than surface more crops and jobs per drop than surface water water (given market for high-value produce)(given market for high-value produce)

AQUIFER DEPLETION AQUIFER DEPLETION social and environmental costs of social and environmental costs of

accelerated and uncontrolled developmentaccelerated and uncontrolled development

phreatophytic vegetation stress aquifer compaction transmissivity reduction

pumping lifts/costs increase borehole yield reduction springflow/baseflow reduction

REVERSIBLEINTERFERENCE

saline water intrusion ingress of polluted water land subsidence and related impacts

IRREVERSIBLEDETERIORATION

GROUNDWATER AND THE ENVIRONMENT GROUNDWATER AND THE ENVIRONMENT

a vital role in creating/sustaining ecosystemsa vital role in creating/sustaining ecosystems

AQUIFER DEGRADATIONAQUIFER DEGRADATIONthe root causesthe root causes

• resource governance has not kept pace with resource development (government agencies have focused more on development than management )

• low public and political awareness :– many still regard groundwater as an

unlimited and uncoupled resource– lack of appreciation of critical linkages

with ‘surface environment’ and land-use practices

AA PRESSING NEED proactive groundwater management

INTEGRATED WATER MANAGEMENTthe general wisdom

• multi-disciplinary approach (managing people)– socio-economic, legal and institutional– (as well as) technical and environmental

• cross-sectorial vision (macro and micro level)– urban infrastructure design and operation– agriculture cropping policy and practice

GROUNDWATER RESOURCE GOVERNANCE GROUNDWATER RESOURCE GOVERNANCE & PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT& PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT

harmonising ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’harmonising ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’

EconomicInstruments

Strategic Level

Local Level

Demand/Suppl

y Interventions

- enabling legal/institutional framework for local action - complementary national policy for water, food, energy

- role of local government- stakeholder participation - groundwater use rights, etc

GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT INTERVENTIONSINTERVENTIONS

supply-side versus demand-side

BENEFITS OF IMPROVED IRRIGATION METHODSon real water-saving and energy conservation

engineering, agronomic and operational measures

GROUNDWATER RESOURCE SAVINGSGROUNDWATER RESOURCE SAVINGSkey issues for agricultural sustainability

• improving irrigation efficiency alone does not necessarily mean real resource savings (and can result in the reverse)

• need to constrain irrigated area and reduce groundwater allocations

• crop changes can also be very effective for groundwater savings (and in some cases increasing water productivity)

GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT some special cases

• Non-Renewable Groundwater Resources

• Conjunctive Use with Surface Water• Groundwater in the Urban

Environment

some special cases

Renewable / Non-renewable groundwater

GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT some special cases

• Non-Renewable Groundwater Resources

• Conjunctive Use with Surface Water• Groundwater in the Urban

Environment

Understanding groundwater

NnnmmmmmmmnGroundwater and surface water are

inextricably related through the hydrologic (or water) cycle. Extracting groundwater can impact surface water resources and vice versa.

Historically, groundwater and surface water have been treated as separate entities.However, in times of drought and water scarcity, understanding and managing theinterconnection between groundwater and surface water has become more important

Conceptual model

GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT some special cases

• Non-Renewable Groundwater Resources

• Conjunctive Use with Surface Water• Groundwater in the Urban

Environment

GROUNDWATER AND THE CITY-an intimate but often unrecognised relationship

 

GENERIC LESSON 2

‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approaches must be reconciled to achieve effective groundwater management

unrealistic to provide a ‘simple blueprint’ for groundwater management because of wide hydrogeologic, socioeconomic and institutional diversity

 

GENERIC LESSON 1

 

GENERIC LESSON 3

a local government agency having the legal mandate and political backing to act as ‘groundwater guardian’ is critical to successful groundwater management

 

 

GENERIC LESSON 4

to mobilise effectively it is essential to have a systematic database of groundwater users, their use patterns and economic characteristics

 

GENERIC LESSON 5

establishment of groundwater abstraction rights is important for mobilising user participation in resource management and eventually for resource reallocation

 

GENERIC LESSON 6

abstraction charging is an important demand management tool but a transparent and acceptable basis for determining use is an essential basis for effective implementation

‘demand-side interventions’ will generally make a bigger contribution than ‘supply-side interventions’ to stabilising the groundwater resource balance

 

GENERIC LESSON 7

 

GENERIC LESSON 8

in demand management it is essential to focus on ‘real water-resource savings’ and not just on increased water-use efficiency

For example: inequity in For example: inequity in accessing irrigation water accessing irrigation water

Agricultural water usesAgricultural water uses

Management mode

Level of training of managers Low level of training of managers: 77% of managers have no technical training.

Technical supervision 44% of farms do not benefit from coaching

Choice of the crops 17% of farmers opting for a given culture because their expertise

Staff responsible for irrigation

80% of irrigation managers and other workers are ignoring the basics of rational irrigation management

Irrigation control Low adoption of irrigation management (23%)

  Controlling irrigation is absent or weakly practiced for the crops using more water (alfalfa and banana) or occupying large areas other than citrus (cereals, maize, potato)

DIAGNOSTIC

Fist action plan

Creation of ABH

Current situation

Gestion de la demande et maîtrise de la recharge et de la ressource disponible

Possible strategies Possible strategies

World Bank, GW-Mate, 2010

time

Average yearly input

average yearly deficit

Past Current state

future Situation 2035

Objective of the new governance schemes : The necessity to reach a new balance Demand/supply

Equilibrium point

When ?

Controlling demand

Mobilizing new resources

tendency

Scenario tendency

time

Annual average demand of water By type : Drinking, irrigation, industry By source : GW, SW By region

Annual contribution by type : recharge, SW..

Déficit moyen annuel

past CurrentSituation

futur Situation 2035

By mean of different solutions…

Quand ?

Rotation crops

Surfaces

IrrigationSystems

lose

other 1

other n…

managementNew damsRecharge

WastewaterDesalinizationTransferts…

Economical Deficit

–Low correlations beteween irrigated areas of a crop and TO generated

–Vegetables generate 46% of turn over and use only 13% of irrigated area

% Area % Area

22 27

192

16

3

13

46

1043 3

17 15

Irrigated areas

Turn over

Citrus (5 Dh/m3)

Cereals (2,5 Dhs/m3)

Olives (2 Dhs/m3)

Vegetables (20dh/m3)

Forages (4 Dh/m3)

Bananas (3 Dh/m3)

Other

100 % = 5,9 Mds DH133'000 ha

Inefficient crops % Production % Production

Socio-economic impacts of the overexploitation of groundwater

Scénarios 

Pumping overcost

(Mdhs)

Abandoned irrigated lands Equivalent employment

lossesNumber Hectares

"Business as usual" 340 1590 20790 7 930

Conversion to micro irrigation

273 1340 12520 6 680

Safeguard scenario 114 1050 10230 5 255

Revenues and employment

Displacement of agricultural activities

•Toward other area within Souss basin •Towards other basins

شكرا اهتمامكموتتبعكم على

بالموضوعMERCI

Thanks for your Attention

Who is the decision maker? What volumes?

Who are the users? What use and where?

Water Crisis = Gouvernance Crisis

How to move from conflict towards partnership status?

Groundwater economics and governance

Photo: Moncef Ibnoussina ucam