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<br />~ . <br /> <br />INCORPORATING THE PUBLIC'S mANGING VALUES FOR WATER: <br />ECONOMIC TECHNIQUES AND OOLLAR VALUES <br /> <br />ABSTRACT <br /> <br />Sound water resource management requires comparison of benefits and costs. Many of the <br />/--:::::::) <br />perceived benefits of water relate to providing instream flow forfecreation~d endangered <br />\ /' <br />'------ <br /> <br />fish. These uses have value but no prices to guide resource allocation. Techniques to estimate <br /> <br />'shadow prices" of environmental values are presented and illustrated with several case <br /> <br />studies. The results of the case studies show that emphasis on minimum instream flow <br /> <br />allocates far less than the economically optimum amount of water to instream uses. Studies in <br /> <br />Idaho demonstrated that optimum flows that balance benefits and costs can be ten times . <br /> <br />,--- -----... -_'~---'-------~"r <br />greater than minimum flows. The economic benefits of preserving i public trust resources <br />"-..---..--.--- -- --- - <br /> <br />outweighed the replacement cost of water and power by a factor fifty in California. Finally, <br /> <br />removal of the Elwha dam to increase salmon production from Olympic National Park had <br /> <br />nationwide benefits in excess of $1 billion. While it is important to incorporate public <br /> <br />preferences in water reso~ management, these economic survey techniques provide water <br /> <br />managers with information not just on preference but what the public would pay for as well. <br /> <br />This facilitates comparison of the public costs and benefits of instream flows. <br /> <br />Keywords: water policy, water management, economics, social. <br /> <br />2 <br />