Abstract
This chapter sets out the socio-economic principles that should govern water resources management for the achievement of a sustainable allocation of the resource over time and across space, in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive. The resulting allocation should be economically efficient, socially equitable and acceptable and environmentally sustainable. The main background concept guiding the identification of such an allocation is the ‘total economic value (TEV)’ of water resources. This concept derives from the ecosystem goods and services that water resources provide the economy and society. In this chapter we present the state of the art with regard to estimating the TEV of water resources and explain how these estimations can facilitate the design and implementation of different European policies in relation to mitigation of different forms of water stress.
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Notes
- 1.
Waternote 9 can be accessed here (last accessed 12/02/2015): http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/participation/pdf/waternotes/water_note9_other_water_legislation.pdf.
- 2.
Please see also National Research Council [5] book on groundwater valuation (Table 1.3, p. 20) for a taxonomy of groundwater values in particular. For example, according to this taxonomy, groundwater use values are divided into extractive (municipal, industrial and agricultural) values and in situ (ecological, buffer, subsidence avoidance, recreational and seawater intrusion values) use values.
- 3.
Work Package 6 ‘Application of valuation techniques to assess the benefits of groundwater quantity-quality improvements’ of the Genesis Project (Groundwater and Dependent Ecosystems: New Scientific and Technological Basis for Assessing Climate Change and Land-use Impacts on Groundwater). Genesis Project is available at: www.thegenesisproject.eu.
- 4.
Apart from nonmarket valuation techniques and hydrological models, linear programming and various other econometric modelling approaches can be used for estimating the economic value of water. For example, programming models can be used for estimating the water quantity which maximises farmers’ private profits through computer simulations (in cases where there is no data on a wide range of prices). These techniques are, nevertheless, beyond the scope of this review chapter.
- 5.
Management Plans (in Greek) are available at http://wfd.ypeka.gr (last accessed 12/02/2015).
- 6.
The International Centre for Research on the Environment and the Economy (ICRE8) is the outcome of the evolution of the Research Team on Socio-Economic and Environmental Sustainability (ReSEES). More details about the team’s research can be found at: http://www.icre8.eu/.
Abbreviations
- CBA:
-
Cost-benefit analysis
- CEM:
-
Choice experiment method
- CV:
-
Contingent valuation
- RBD:
-
River basin district
- TEV:
-
Total economic value
- WFD:
-
Water framework directive
- WTP:
-
Willingness to pay
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Koundouri, P., Reppas, D., Skianis, V. (2015). Socio-Economics and Water Management: Revisiting the Contribution of Economics in the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Greece. In: Skoulikidis, N., Dimitriou, E., Karaouzas, I. (eds) The Rivers of Greece. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 59. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2015_427
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