Source: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE submitted to
ECONOMIC CONSIDERATION OF DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF MARGINAL WATER IN VIEW OF WATER SCARCITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0220634
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
CA-R-ENS-5023-H
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Dec 1, 2010
Project End Date
Dec 1, 2015
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Dinar, AR.
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE
(N/A)
RIVERSIDE,CA 92521
Performing Department
Environmental Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Marginal water sources such as wastewater become more important as water becomes scarcer in many places such as southern California. Use of recycled wastewater for various purposes (irrigation, aquifer replenishment, and wetland support) could, if done properly be very valuable and less of a burden. This project proposes to combine scientific and policy aspects of wastewater reuse by developing a framework that will include both a formal model of wastewater treatment cost, wastewater application in conjunction with surface water and ground water, likely agricultural crop damages from use of wastewater, effects on wetland, and effects on soil quality. Once these relationships are estimated in two certain localities, policies will be identified, quantified and modeled for their effectiveness in preventing negative impacts of use of wastewater. Because different agents (ag, urban, env) are affected differently by different policy interventions, they may object certain policy interventions. The final stage of the proposed framework will apply tools from the field of cooperative game theory to assess how net gains in the regional context are distributed among the different agents in the region and how could the different policy interventions be ranked vis a vis their fairness and stability. The project is characterized by a very active set of participation activities with policy makers, water users, and technical associations. There are two types of outcomes that are expected. First, an interaction with water users, policy makers, and technical associations, will allow immediate feedback and dissemination, and second, results and conclusions from the study will be published in technical journals and in policy journals.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1110210301034%
1120210301033%
4030210301033%
Knowledge Area
403 - Waste Disposal, Recycling, and Reuse; 111 - Conservation and Efficient Use of Water; 112 - Watershed Protection and Management;

Subject Of Investigation
0210 - Water resources;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
With continued population growth and increased demand for water, mainly by the domestic sector and environmental sectors on the one hand, and deteriorating quality of water and variability of water supply due to also climate change, fresh water resources become a real constraint to economic development, and in many cases also lead to environmental pollution and loss of ecosystem services. Experts identified desalinization as being the next available technology to produce necessary water supplies, but so far the cost of such water is still high and restricts their use. In the process of discussing future development of new water resources, one resource has been overlooked. Reuse of treated wastewater in irrigated agriculture may serve several purposes. Although urban use of wastewater has been considered and actually is being practiced or tested in several locations, such as Windhoek Namibia, Orange County California or Scottsdale Arizona, the health risk issues associated with urban use of wastewater have not been fully addressed. Reuse of wastewater for Irrigation may reduce the need for development of new, expensive fresh water resources (e.g., new dams, transfer of water from remote locations, and over-pumping of ground water aquifers). Second, by treating and reusing wastewater in irrigated agriculture environmental pollution may be controlled (reduced or eliminated), making irrigated agriculture an environmental guard in this respect. The range of wastewater reuse options in agriculture is very broad and the quality requirements of the treated effluent may differ widely depending on the target use, e.g., as irrigation water for inedible or for edible crops, as industrial cooling water or as drinking water. An economic analysis of the costs of municipal wastewater, treatment for policy and planning purposes requires a flexible tool, which can be modified to the problem under consideration. The goal of this project is to develop a framework by which wastewater promoting and regulating policies can be evaluated in selected representative sites, in a participatory way, including stakeholders, where wastewater has been used or being considered for use, and apply the developed methodology in each of them, using available data to be collected during the project. The Objectives of this project are to (1) estimate the full economic cost of reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation under various physical conditions, including treatment cost, conveyance cost, environmental cost (pollution of ecosystems and loss of ecosystem services), reduced hedonic values of land irrigated with reused wastewater, likely water pollution accidents, etc.; and (2) assess effectiveness and acceptability of policies designed to regulate use of wastewater for irrigated agriculture.
Project Methods
The work will be sequential in the first 2 years and then move into parallel tracks for the next 3 years. Year 1 will be dedicated to (1.1) Estimation of wastewater treatment cost functions. The work in year 2 will focus on (2.1) Estimation of economic cost of use of wastewater on soil, groundwater, ecosystems and crop yields. In year 3 focus will be put on (3.1) application of (1.1) and (2.1) to 2 specific locations in Southern California; (3.2) identification of policy interventions that may mitigate negative impacts of use of wastewater on soil, groundwater, ecosystems, and crop yields. In year 4 the work will focus on (4.1) fine tuning of (3.1) and (3.2) by adding effects of external physical shocks such as droughts, and possible administrative surface water cuts; in year 4 the project will (4.2) introduce models of public choice to evaluate the political feasibility of the policies in (3.2) and shocks under (4.1), and the allocation of the costs and benefits among the stakeholders. The final year will be dedicated to (5.1) publication preparation, dataset cleaning, consultation and dissemination of the results. Explanation: (1.1) Using available data from various sources a cost function will be estimated, employing standard econometric approaches. (2.1) The cost function will be incorporated into a regional model with multiple water sources (surface, ground and recycled) and multiple users (Agriculture, Urban, and environment) that could use it. The model will socially optimize the use of all sources with policy interventions. (3.1) The proposed model will be calibrated to types of wastewater treatment plants in use in service areas of two water districts in Southern California. (3.2) possible policy interventions will be identified in a series of workshops with stakeholders and policy mskers. (4.1) Because water availability levels are the trigger that makes marginal water and especially recycled wastewater more attractive for use, the model will have to address shocks to the water supply system such as occasional droughts and regulations that remove certain amount of freshwater from use for irrigation. (4.2) Policy interventions may succeed or fail, depending on the outcome of the policies and the distribution among gainers and losers in the economy. Treatment cost of municipal wastewater, the direct and indirect impacts of wastewater and the net gains from their reuse have to be redistributed among the regional stakeholders (players) such that they will be better off compared with the status quo. A cooperative game theory framework will be developed and used to find efficient and stable allocation schemes that comply with the various policy interventions. (5.1) Seminars and workshops will be conducted in various outlets, such as water agencies, Water centers in various campuses of the university of California, and government agencies and various associations. Results will also be presented and shared with the members of the intl working group on advancing wastewater research in one of its annual meeting. Technical publications and policy notes will also be produced as an output of this project.

Progress 12/01/10 to 12/01/15

Outputs
Target Audience: Target audience includes local farmers and staff in the UCCE system of the Imperial, San Diego, and Riverside counties as well as scientific community in Califronia and the Western USA. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The project allowed us to: 1. Employ 4 undergraduate students in various stages of data collection and analysis. One of these students became also a co-author on one publication. 2. Train one graduate student in economics of climate change: literature review, data sampling and analysis 3. Train one student in the field of adoption of water management tecniques (modeling, data collection and analysis) 4. Train one post doc in review of the literature on production function of perennial crops under water scarcity and deteriorated quality. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results so far were disseminated via: 1. Farmers' meetings. 2. Professional conferences. 3. Publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The project allowed us to: 1. Establish very good connections and relations with the farming community in 3 counties, and many more growers in other counties. 2. Gain knowledge and experience in conducting experimental economics sessions related to water as a common property. 3. Establish a research group that meets monthly and shares progress.

Publications

  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2010 Citation: Please see my annual reports for 2010-2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2010 Citation: Please see annual reports for 2010-2015.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2010 Citation: Please see the annual reports for 2010-2015.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2015 Citation: Please see all annual reports for 2010-2015.


Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience: Target audienceincludeslocal farmers and staff in the UCCE system of the Imperial, San Diego, and Riverside counties as well as scientific community in Califronia and the Western USA. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project allowed us to: 1. Employ 4 undergraduate students in various stages of data collection and analysis. One of these students became also a co-author on one publication. 2. Train one graduate student in economics of climate change: literature review, data sampling and analysis 3. Train one student in the field of adoption of water management tecniques (modeling, data collection and analysis) 4. Train one post doc in review of the literature on production function of perennial crops under water scarcity and deteriorated quality. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results so far were disseminated via: 1. Farmers' meetings. 2. Professional conferences. 3. Publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project is requested to be extended. This will allow me to complete the field work, graduate 3 students, and extend the analysis to wastewater use in Avocado in San Diego County.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The project allowed us to: 1. Establish very good connections and relations with the farming community in 3 counties, and many more growers in other counties. 2. Gain knowledge and experience in conducting experimental economics sessions related to water as a common property. 3. Establish a research group that meets monthly and shares progress.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Ashraf, A., A. Dinar, E. Monteiro, and T. Gaston, Adaptation in California Agriculture: What Have We Been Assessing for Two and a Half Decades? Climate Change Economics (Ac-cepted for Publication, October 21, 2015).
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2015 Citation: Basist, A., A. Dinar, B. Blankenspoor, and H. Houba, Global Land Surface Wetness and Temperature from Space, using Passive Microwave Emission: The Value of Satellite Information in Crop Yield Prediction and River Discharge Models. In: Climate Smart Agriculture - Building Resilience to Climate Change, Zilberman, D., L. Lipper, N. McCarthy, S. Asfaw, G. Branca (Eds.). FAO (In Press).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2015 Citation: Tellez-Foster, E., A. Dinar, and A. Rapoport, Comparing Alternative Policy Interventions for Modification of Subsidized Energy: The Case of Groundwater Pumping for Irrigation, Re-source and Energy Economics.


Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience were avocado growers in the San Diego County facing high level of water scarcity and high salinity, Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? We have a graduate student that benefitted from this project, studying the economics of technology adoption under water scarcity and deteriorated quality. We employ a post doc that is in the midst of a major literature review of modeling of perennial crops management under water scarcity and quality constraints. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results so far have been disseminated via the Giannini Report that is a publication of the University of California, which reaches thousands of readers in California. Results were also disseminated via presentations in international forums and were placed on their websites. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? I am now developing a model for regional reuse of wastewater in irrigated agriculture with economic considerations and cost benefit allocations among direct and indirect users.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We established a framework for testing use of irrigation of Avocado with wastewater in Southern California. We understand now better what drives growers to select different water saving technologies and management practices, when water quantity and quality are at stake.

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Julie Escalera, Ariel Dinar, and David Crowley. Adoption of Water-Related Technology and Management Practices by the California Avocado Industry.ARE Update, Vol. 18, No. 3, Jan/Feb 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Ariel Dinar, "Food security and Environmental Sustainability: Opportunities and Risks of Irrigation with Non-conventional Waters to Address Climate Change Induced Water Scarcity in Southern California. Paper presented at the International Workshop on Securing Food Using Non-Conventional Water Sources, February 24, 2015, University of Haifa, Israel.


Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13

Outputs
Target Audience: Target audience of this project this year were the farming community, the staff of the University of California, Cooperative extension in several counties, and boards of water and irrigation districts. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The project provided this year opportunities for 2 (graduate and undergraduate) students to engage in analysis of adaptation to climate change in southern California, including the use of marginal water for irrigation. Training development included meetings with professional staff of the UCCE in a couple of counties, and interactions with the farming community. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The main conduite for dissemination was through periodical meetings with the county office staff of UCCE (IMperial, Riverside). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During the next reporting period I plan to expand to work from two counties (Imperial, Riverside) to additional counties in the Central Valley (Kern, Fresno), to expand the modeling framework by adding uncertainty of the quantity of available water, and hopefully to add some mpore positive analyses of farmers reaction to various water qualities and water sources.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Several objectives have been accomplished during the reporting period. First, a major international conference addressing salinity in water resources and in wastewater has been planned and is being realized for June 2014. And second, several research projects have been prepared, including collaboration with the University of California San Diego for additional funding of a project on water pollution in the lower Colorado River Basin and its impact on the local ecosystem.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Dinar, A. and U. Kumar Jammalamadaka, Adaptation of Irrigated Agriculture to Adversity and Variability under Conditions of Drought and likely Climate Change: Interaction between Water Institutions and Social Norms. International Journal of Water Governance. (Accepted for Publication, October 4, 2012), 1:4164, 2013.
  • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Dinar, A. and A. Rapoport (Eds.), Analyzing Global Environmental Issues: Theoretical and Experimental Applications and their Policy Implications, Routledge, 2013.
  • Type: Books Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2014 Citation: Dinar, A. and K. Schwabe (Eds.), Handbook of Water Economics, Edward Elgar Publishers, 2014.


Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: During the reporting period I was able with the help of R-SAP funding to engage in several ways with the farming association in the Escondido area and the City of Escondido to initiate a project aiming to test the impact of irrigation with recycled wastewater on avocado production and profitability. A scientific-economic framework was developed and applied and long-term experiment is now underway (with D. Crowley), allowing funding of one graduate student. The project is funded by a grant from the Mission Water District. R-SAP funding allowed me also to develop another project addressing decision-making by avocado farmers in light of water scarcity and deteriorated quality. A questionnaire tool was developed, tested and is being now implemented in the avocado sector of California with the support of the California Avocado Commission. This particular project is also funded by the Giannini Foundation and supports one graduate student. R-SAP funding supported this year one graduate student that developed a proposal to estimate the impact of climate change on agriculture in California and the adaptation by California farmers. A 1-year funding was provided by USBR, and a proposal for funding for 2 more years is now under preparation. So far, we completed a comprehensive lit review that will be placed in a special website to be available to interested parties. Engaging with the US Salinity Lab to organize the 3rd Salinity Forum in June 2014. All 4 outputs address the goals of the R-SAP project by: 1. Addressing the impact of water scarcity on the agricultural sector and the ways farmers may be able to address it via adaptation. 2. Developing methodologies to analyze at local, regional and state level, the impacts of water scarcity and deteriorated quality, and 3. Engaging with the agricultural and water supply community to work together on possible ways to address issues of water scarcity and deteriorated quality that they face. PARTICIPANTS: Not relevant to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
Outcomes/Impacts Several outcomes/impacts can be attributed to the R-SAP project: 1. Increased interactions with growers (at large, avocado, citrus) and with water suppliers (water districts-Coachella, Westlands) 2. Presentation [The Water Situation in California and the CITRUS Industry: Do we respond adequately] in the Annual California Citrus Conference (October 2012) 3. Invitation to present [Will Water Become a More Limiting Resource for Food Production] in the American Association of Ag Economists in Washington DC (August 2013) 4. Establishing a team to work on issues related to impact of climate change on water and agriculture (2 graduate students, one under graduate student) 5. Creating a team that will address salinity problems in agricultural operations and in environment and urban management. Engaging with various groups in California and abroad in organizing the 3rd International Salinity Forum.

Publications

  • Dinar, A. and U. Kumar Jammalamadaka, Adaptation of Irrigated Agriculture to Adversity and Variability under Conditions of Drought and likely Climate Change: Interaction between Water Institutions and Social Norms. International Journal of Water Governance. (Accepted for Publication, October 4, 2012), 1:41 - 64, 2013.
  • Dinar, A., D. F. Larson, and J. A. Frisbie, How California can take advantage of the Clean Development Mechanism to achieve its AB 32 goals by 2020. California Agriculture. (Accepted for Publication, May 21, 2012), 66(4):137 - 143, 2012.


Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Activities in 2011 focused on establishing contacts with regulatory agencies, the water treatment industry, and relevant agricultural crop producers in order to (1) get access to data on wastewater cost and input-output relationships; and (2) identify locations for possible implementation of the analytical framework and collaboration with local growers. In the reporting period contacts with the following individuals and groups were made for the purposes stated below: i. Ms. Catherine Smith, Executive Director, California Association of Sanitation Agencies (regarding access to the dataset of CASA) ii. Mr. John Pastore, Executive Director, Southern California Alliance for Publicly Owned Treatment Works (regarding access to the dataset of SCAPOTW) iii. Ms. Pei-Chin Low from MWH Global in Pasadena (regarding a joint effort to mechanize the data collection of wastewater treatment in SoCal) iv. Mr. Richard Atwater Executive Director for the Southern California Water Committee and Former President of the Water Reuse Association (regarding participation in a coming project of harmonizing and mechanizing data collection of wastewater treatment in California) v. Mr. Chuck Herrin, farmer, and Todd Neves, a Board Member from Westlands Irrigation District (regarding possible study of adoption of technologies and recycled water among Westlands 600 farmers) vi. Mr. John Burr, avocado grower from Escondido (regarding a possible study of a practical issue of cooperation between the City of Escondido and the avocado growers in its vicinity for use of the treated wastewater by the farmers instead of dumping the water to the ocean) vii. Mr. Davidi Compton, Farmer and President of Tri Color Farms in Coachella Valley (regarding a study technology adoption in use of marginal water for irrigation of cash crops) viii. Officials from the Bureau of Reclamation in the Temecula office and in the Denver office (regarding supplemental funding of the proposed study). The efforts described above are expected to be concluded in the next 2-3 months. They ultimately be used in the empirical components of the proposed R-SAP. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audience include: farming community, water treatment industry, state and federal agencies. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
Immediate expected impacts include: i. Expressed interest on the part of the USBR Denver Office in a Pre-proposal on impact of and adaptation to climate change in agriculture in California's San Joaquin and Coachella Valleys to be submitted to their climate change research initiative By April 2012 ii. Possible funding of a study on Cooperative arrangements between the City of Escondido and the avocado industry in the region, pending results of a March 12 meeting.

Publications

  • No publications yet for 2011.


Progress 01/01/10 to 12/31/10

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Not yet eligible to participate. Would start to be active on 12/2011 when 3 years in position. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Not yet eligible to participate. Would start to be active on 12/2011 when 3 years in position.

Publications

  • No publications reported this period