The determinants of sustainable irrigation water prices in Iran

Riza Radmehr, Samira Shayanmehr

Abstract: Iran is one of the world's arid and semi-arid regions, and optimal use of water is one of the challenges facing policymakers in the country. This study seeks to evaluate the economic, social and environmental effects of determining irrigation water prices of areas under the irrigation system of Qazvin plain in Iran. Water demand management has manifested itself as an approach to this problem, especially in the recent decades, and water pricing is considered as a mechanism for its management. Using pricing policies for water resource management does not only impact demand, but also brings about economic, social and environmental effects. In this study, the Positive Mathematical Programming (PMP) was used to simulate the behavior of farmers and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) were used to determine the weight-criteria for ranking prices. The results show that economic and social criteria have the highest weight in the selection of water price in Iran compared with environmental criteria. Also, we will expect that with the increase of environmental concerns in Iran, the government needs to select the higher prices for irrigation water.

Keywords: environmental criteria; Iran; TOPSIS; water demand management; water pricing

Date published: 2019-01-04