PUB00041

• Year: 1998
• Title: Western Irrigation Economic Benfits Review
• CWCB Section: Finance
• Author: Family Farm Alliance
• Description: White paper on the role of irrigated agriculture in the 21st century.
• Publications - Doc Type: Tech Report

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h.HiCd on the marginal \"allle of \\"cst CCta~t l'lll'rgy markl'tsdParific ;\"orth\H'st. C"lifornia.
and Inland Soutln\Cst-.during Ihe '-lay-August pniod. This tinu.' frame coincides with
pC;.lk irrig.ltion \\:lln \\ithdra\\:'11s within the rin'f sysll'm. Ginn tlu.' afofcmrnlioncd
conditions. this h~Llrndcctric po\\n ,:tlue b ahout SS-IO dnllars pcr acre-ft. An onnlll
annual production \alue "Huld he much higher. ranging he tween 511)-20 dolhus pef
;'lcrc-ft.

:\lunil'ipalJindustrial \\atef nihIl'S usually cxhibit the highest '-alllc for the use \'alue
Sl'ctors. because of the municipaUindustrial sector's higher" illingncss-Io-pay and ahility-
to-pay for water. This '"aim' can he set at till' margilwl nl)UC of irrigation waler tnlllsfcrs
Ilr at the l'lIst of Ile" wall'r ~uppl~ sourn's, As such. it is n.'~lsonJlhll' tn aSSUllll' that
Illunicipal "atl'r t1Sl' n't:.lins a \'lllue gre~ltcr thJln S100 per :1crc-ft.

Thl' cconomic ":llu(' of \\:1t('r for enyironmental resources c.m '-a~" significantly
depentling on till' type of resource and thl' mtlure of non-USl' nlluation l'stimates, The
examples for sport anti commercial fisheries nllues l'ont~lined in Tahlc (, suggest ~l widc
rangl' in ":thle: for cxample. ahout S2-100 pl'r ~lcrc-ft. for ,,,port and comnll'rci:11 fishing
related to Sn:tke-Coll1mhia Rinr and California Central Valley Projl'ct opcnltions. Thl'Sl'
yalUl'S arc hasl'd on din'ct use \aIUl' ml'asuring techniqucs. such as cx.ycsscl "allle
estimates, tra'-c! cost methods. and l'ontingent Y.lluation method surYe~"s for anJ:!,1ers.

Other l'n\"ironmental resource nllue:'<i contained within Table 6 arc predominantly
an expression of non-lIse. nonrnark('t yalues has('d nn contingent '-~llu"tiHn method
surveys. These sur-yeys attcmpt to c~lpture society's \,jJJingncss-to.pay for n'souree
condition impronments; this ~ldditional willingness to pay. if accurate. is an estimate of
direct net '"allle. Depending on the resourc(' heing measured. this ,"alue ('stimate can be
interpreted tu represent "total '"alue," that is. society's comhined use value. option yalue.
and existellce yalue (existence ,"alue refers to the Ylllue society places on simply knowing
that a resource exists). Thesl' resourccs also suggest a "ide range of '"alue, but the upper
,"alue range can hl' n~' high. Consider for example" here one study suggests that the
'-alue of California Central Valley Project water could he as high as S6.000 per acre.ft, for
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