WSP01328

• File Number: 8030
• Description: Section "D" General Correspondence - Other Organizations/Agencies ‎(Alpha, not Basin Related)‎
• Date: 12/21/1971
• Author: WRC
• Title: Proposed Principles and Standards for Planning Water and Related Land Resources-Notice of Public Hearing, Water Resources Council
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

price that dlreotly expresses users' val-
uation or W'atlor supply tor rommunlty
and IndIvldU8l wie, When tJhJs Is the case,
the to1ll.l value of 1ihe water may be de-
rived using the cost or 1ihe alternatJ.ve
that would provide e6SEllltlally .. com-
parable water supply senrice, in both
quantlty and qWll1ty, that would In fact
be utll1zed In the absence of the _ter
supply provided by the plan, Where sucll
a.n alternatiVe source is not availa.ble or
would not be economlcaIIy feasible. a
market value for the water may be de-
rived on the besls of the price pald by
other like users or the average cost of a
comparable water service fram munici-
pal watlor supply projects planned or re-
Cel1t!y constructed In 1ihe general regton.
The tolBl value of _ter to the pro-
ducers using increased. suppUes is re-
flected In the change in their net lncon1e
with a plan for the provision of waller
supply compored with their net InCOllU!6
without the plan. It Is reoognl2Jed that
for many plsnnlng studies It Is not pos-
sible to either specifically tdentlfy net
Income changes socruing to firms using
water supply for productive purpclEie8 or
8lways possible to determine what part
of a municipal supply Is used tor produc-
tive pursuits or for general conununlty
or individual """" as set tortlh below, In
these cases, tolBl value to the users can
be approximated by use of the CQSt of the
8Il>ematJ.ve that would be employed to
achieve the same production that would
be utlJ1zed In 1ihe absence of the _ter
supply provided by a plan.
Water supply for 1rr1gation Is an in-
put to the production of food and fiber.
'I'hts may result in a net morease in prO-
duction of specified products, the reduc-
tion in productton cost. or a combination
of both. Beneficial e:fJects from t.he ap-
plication of 1rr1gatton water supplles w1l1
be based upon total value to agricultural
producers and w1ll be mea.sured as the
Increase in net farm income with and.
without a plan for providing irrigation
water. Th18 may be measured directly
as the sum of net incomes ot farm enter-
prises benefltlng from a plan for
I.rr1gation.
Or"", to.rm Incame comprires tot81lllIl-
nual receipts from the sale of crops, live-
stock. livestock products. and the value of
perquls1tes. mwh 88 the renlBl value of
the farm dwelling and the value of to.rm
products consumed by the tarm famlly.
Farm exPenses are the costs necessary
by produce and market farm products
and maintain and replace all deprec1-
able items.
Increased net Income is measured as
the difference between the increase in
gross farm income minus the increase in
Itarm expenses analyzed with and with-
out a plan.. Changes in net farm income
may be estimated by analy2ilng changes
in gross farm income and expenses for
each separate enterprise or by the use
of representative farm budgets.
b. Flood control, land stabilization,
drainage, and related activities. A num-
ber of activities, suoh as :flood control
and prevention, flood-plain manage-
ment, drainage, prevention of sediinen-
tation, land stab1l1zatlon. and erosion

NOTICES

control, contribute to multlobjectlves
through improving the productivity, use,
and attractiveness of the Nation's land
resources. From the viewpoint of their
contribution to the objective of national
economlc development, the effect of these
sctIvltles on the outpul of goods and
services Is manif...ted by increasing the
productivity of land or by reducing the
costs of using the land re8Out'CeB, thereby
relea.s1ng re50urces for production of
goods and services elsewhere. These ac-
tivities BJrect land resources in the fol-
lowing ma.nner:
8. Prevention or reduction of inunda-
tion arising from stream overflow, "over-
land waterftow, Wgh lake stages, and
high tides, and prevention of damage
from Inadequate dTainage;
b. Prevention or reduction of soil
erosion, including Sheet erosion, gullying,
:flood-plain scouring, streambank cutting.
shore or beadh erosion, and prevention
of sedimentation; and
c. Prevention or l1m1tat1on of the uses
to which specified land resources will be
put.
There are essentially three types ot
e1fects on use that may occur M a bene-
fit from includIng these &ctivitl.es in a
plan. The first is an tncrease in the pro-
ductivity of land without a change 1n
land- use. The second is a shift of land
resources to a more intensive use than
would occur in the absence of a plan. The
third is a shift of land resources to less
intensive""" 11han would occtH' In the ab-
sence of a. plan. In each case, the gen-
eral benefit standard 18 applicable. The
dIstinction is made only to facUitate the
appl1eation of the general standard In
different settings and 88 a means of pro-
vid1ng criteria. for the use of alternative
techniques for estimating net income
changes for the three classes of land
ut1l1zatlon under the with and without
analysiB.
The general standard to be applied in
measuring effects for these' and any
other activ1t1es that result 1n a change
in net productivity or a reduction In the
cost of using land resources Involves the
measurement of the difference in net
income accruing to users of land re-
SCJ\ll'CUI benefl:t1.ng from 6U.Oh activiUes
compared with what these usen; would
earn in the absence of such a plan. This
"generally defines and establishes the
l1m1tJof the willingness of users to pay
tor a plan that results in a change in
productiVity or reduction in the cost 01
using land resources.
Willingness to pay of the users, which
is the basis for approximating the value
of output from these activities, whether
it be in the fonn of increased produc-
tion of intermediate or :final goods or
release of resources, may be obtaJned by
the following approaches.
(1) Productivity increase. In this situ-
ation, analysis with and without the plan
IndIcates that the current Bnd future
enterprises employing given land re-
sources are essentially the same with
the plan as they would be without the
plan. Further, it is more profitable for
the given enterprise to continue to use
the given land resource even without the

24155

beneflcl81 eJrect of the plan than to lo-
cate at the next most efficient loca.tion.
Net income change can then be mea-
sured as the difference in net income
accruing to the enterprise on the speci-
:fled land resource without the plan com-
pared with what that enterprise would
receive as net income with the plan on
the same land resource.
(2) Changes in land use. Two situ-"
ations are covered by changes in land"
use. These are:
(a) The situation in' which the land-
owner benefiting from the change in
land use would only utilize the land re-
source affected by such activity once the
plan has become aperaJtive. In other
words, it would not be as profftable for
the benefiting landowner to utilize the
affected land resource tmless improved
through one of the aotivities in this cate-
gory as compared with" the next most
efficient location. Without such a plan
the improved enterprise would occur at
an alternative location. Net income
change to the landowner will be mea-
sured as the difference In net income
from the enterprise at an alternative lo-
cation that would be utll1zed without the
plan compared with the net income re-
ceived from the enterpr1se at a new lo-
cation which is improved or enhanced as
a result of the plan.
(b) The situation in which enterprlses
that would otherwise employ a given
land resoUrce would be precluded from
using the given land resources with im-
plementation of the plan. other enter-
prises less prone to incur .flood dar:nages
or other adverse consequences would be
allowed to use the given land resources.
Beneflcial effects to the enterprises
from actlv1tJes in thIs categOry would
be evalua.ted by measuring the net in-
come change for the enterprise precluded
from using the given land resources with
the plan 1:\8 compared with the without
situation, plus the net ":Income change
for the enterprl.se. that would be allowed
to use the given land resource with the
plan as compared with the without sit-
uation.
(3) Estimates 0/ clamage 1JTevention
and other measures. In the above cases,
where It Is not "",,"Ible to directly em-
ploy net income changes to derive bene-
fits. the estimate of actua.l or proopective
damages to the phYSical propertiftJ of
the enterprises involved can be employed.
88 an a.pproxlmatlon ot net" income
cIlange,
In the case of productivity change,
where development will be the same with
and without the plan, benefits a.ttrlbut-
able will equal total damages reduced.
For the intensive land use cases. where
development or use of land wUI be dUfer-
ent with and without the plan, benefits
can be apprOximated 1:\8' equal to the
damages these enterprises could sustain
in the absence of protection if located on
the aJrected land,
AB a check on benefits derived in the
form of net income change or damages
prevented, o'b6ervaltions of oha.nges in
land values for aU lands may be em-
ployed,
c. Power. With respect; to the compu-
OOition of benef1cl81 and adverse eJfecto

feDERAL REGISTER, VOL. 36, NO. 24S-TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1971