The Effects of Volumetric Pricing Policy on Farmers’ Water Management Institutions and Their Water Use : The Case of Water User Organization in an Irrigation System in Hubei, China

Kajisa, Kei ; Dong, Bin

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: LARGE RESERVOIRS;    WATER ALLOCATION;    FRESH WATER;    LEAD;    RURAL COMMUNITIES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7369
RP-ID  :  WPS7369

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This article examines the effect ofwater pricing policies on farmers’ water saving behaviors,using original water user group (WUG) data from a reservoirirrigation system in China. The introduction of volumetricwater pricing at the group level, to replace area-basedpricing, induces institutional change to prevent eachmember’s overuse of water when the volumetric price levelsare moderate. Depending on the initial conditions, themultiple pathways of change lead to new institutionalarrangements, with all of them contributing to watersavings. However, when the price is set high enough, manyfarmers exit a WUG for private irrigation. This tendency isassociated with an increased probability that the remainingmembers do not undertake institutional change and that theydo not end up saving water. This may be due to the increasedmanagement difficulties among the remaining members whosefields are separated by former members who have now optedout for private irrigation across the WUG. As a result, wedo not find evidence that the reservoir water is saved athigh volumetric price levels.