IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v13y2024i12p2156-d1541096.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Cost–Benefit Analysis of Reclaimed Water and Desalinated Seawater for Irrigation in Axarquia, Southern Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Antonio R. Hurtado

    (Water, Environmental and Agricultural Resources Economics (WEARE) Research Group, Department of Agricultural Economics, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus Rabanales Building C5, 14014 Córdoba, Spain)

  • Julio Berbel

    (Water, Environmental and Agricultural Resources Economics (WEARE) Research Group, Department of Agricultural Economics, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus Rabanales Building C5, 14014 Córdoba, Spain)

Abstract

In water-scarce regions, policymakers resort to reclaimed water (RW) and desalinated seawater (DSW) to supply economic agents when conventional resources are not available. This paper develops a proposal for a simple methodology to apply a cost–benefit analysis (CBA) approach to RW and DSW as a support to the evaluation of water policy goals. To test the method, it applies a CBA to RW and DSW in Axarquia (southern Spain), a water-scarce region suffering a long and extreme drought that is impacting urban supply and the agricultural sector. The benefit-to-cost ratio (BCR) of 17.02 estimated for reclaimed water highlights its high return on investment, suggesting that it offers substantial economic and environmental benefits. This high BCR indicates that reclaimed water as a resource for irrigation is highly cost-effective, particularly if it is combined with nutrient management. By contrast, the estimated BCR of 4.05 for desalinated water, although positive, is considerably lower, suggesting that desalinated water is a feasible but less cost-effective solution due to its high energy requirements and associated costs. This methodology may be extended to other hydrological systems, such as aquifer basins, to promote the generation of more comprehensive insights.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio R. Hurtado & Julio Berbel, 2024. "A Cost–Benefit Analysis of Reclaimed Water and Desalinated Seawater for Irrigation in Axarquia, Southern Spain," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-20, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:12:p:2156-:d:1541096
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/12/2156/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/12/2156/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vasileios A. Tzanakakis & Andrea G. Capodaglio & Andreas N. Angelakis, 2023. "Insights into Global Water Reuse Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-30, August.
    2. Alfonso Expósito & Esther Díaz-Cano & Julio Berbel, 2024. "The Potential use of Reclaimed Water for Irrigation Purposes: Is it Overestimated?," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 38(12), pages 4541-4554, September.
    3. Julio Berbel & Julia Martin-Ortega & Pascual Mesa, 2011. "A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Water-Saving Measures for the Water Framework Directive: the Case of the Guadalquivir River Basin in Southern Spain," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(2), pages 623-640, January.
    4. Garcia, X. & Pargament, D., 2015. "Reusing wastewater to cope with water scarcity: Economic, social and environmental considerations for decision-making," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 154-166.
    5. Zhangallimbay, Donald & Castillo, José Gabriel, 2021. "The social discount rate in the evaluation of investment projects: an application for Ecuador," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hu, Zhineng & Chen, Yazhen & Yao, Liming & Wei, Changting & Li, Chaozhi, 2016. "Optimal allocation of regional water resources: From a perspective of equity–efficiency tradeoff," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 102-113.
    2. Babak Zolghadr-Asli & Neil McIntyre & Slobodan Djordjevic & Raziyeh Farmani & Liliana Pagliero, 2025. "How Planning Shared Infrastructure could Support Agriculture and Desalinated Irrigation," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 39(3), pages 1215-1233, February.
    3. Prakashan Veettil & Stijn Speelman & Guido Huylenbroeck, 2013. "Estimating the Impact of Water Pricing on Water Use Efficiency in Semi-arid Cropping System: An Application of Probabilistically Constrained Nonparametric Efficiency Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(1), pages 55-73, January.
    4. N. Graveline & B. Aunay & J. Fusillier & J. Rinaudo, 2014. "Coping with Urban & Agriculture Water Demand Uncertainty in Water Management Plan Design: the Interest of Participatory Scenario Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(10), pages 3075-3093, August.
    5. Chen, Zhuo & Wu, Qianyuan & Wu, Guangxue & Hu, Hong-Ying, 2017. "Centralized water reuse system with multiple applications in urban areas: Lessons from China’s experience," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 117(PB), pages 125-136.
    6. Gao, Hongchao & Wei, Tong & Lou, Inchio & Yang, Zhifeng & Shen, Zhenyao & Li, Yingxia, 2014. "Water saving effect on integrated water resource management," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 50-58.
    7. Manisha, Manjari & Verma, Kavita & Pranesh, Anirudha Tadpatri & Marigoudar, Santrupt Raju & Hoysall, Chanakya & Rao, Lakshminarayana, 2024. "Achieving water security in India through sustainable wastewater reuse: The roles of policy, politics, and people," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    8. Zhang, Jinbo & Liu, Lirong & Xie, Yulei & Han, Dengcheng & Zhang, Yang & Li, Zheng & Guo, Huaicheng, 2023. "Revealing the impact of an energy–water–carbon nexus–based joint tax management policy on the environ-economic system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    9. Wright, Stuart A.L. & Fritsch, Oliver, 2011. "Operationalising active involvement in the EU Water Framework Directive: Why, when and how?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2268-2274.
    10. Corentin Girard & Jean-Daniel Rinaudo & Manuel Pulido-Velazquez, 2015. "Index-Based Cost-Effectiveness Analysis vs. Least-Cost River Basin Optimization Model: Comparison in the Selection of a Programme of Measures at the River Basin Scale," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(11), pages 4129-4155, September.
    11. George HALKOS & Georgia GALANI, 2014. "Cost Effectiveness Analysis in Reducing Nutrient Loading in Baltic and Black Seas A Review," Journal of Advanced Research in Management, ASERS Publishing, vol. 5(1), pages 28-51.
    12. Mengshan Lee & Berrin Tansel & Maribel Balbin, 2013. "Urban Sustainability Incentives for Residential Water Conservation: Adoption of Multiple High Efficiency Appliances," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(7), pages 2531-2540, May.
    13. Francisco Alcon & Julia Martin-Ortega & Francisco Pedrero & Juan Alarcon & M. Miguel, 2013. "Incorporating Non-market Benefits of Reclaimed Water into Cost-Benefit Analysis: A Case Study of Irrigated Mandarin Crops in southern Spain," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(6), pages 1809-1820, April.
    14. Daniel Chami & Alessandra Scardigno & Giulio Malorgio, 2011. "Impacts of Combined Technical and Economic Measures on Water Saving in Agriculture under Water Availability Uncertainty," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(14), pages 3911-3929, November.
    15. Valatin, G. & Ovando, P. & Abildtrup, J. & Accastello, C. & Andreucci, M.B. & Chikalanov, A. & El Mokaddem, A. & Garcia, S. & Gonzalez-Sanchis, M. & Gordillo, F. & Kayacan, B. & Little, D. & Lyubenova, 2022. "Approaches to cost-effectiveness of payments for tree planting and forest management for water quality services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    16. Zheng, Xiang & Zhang, Zhenxing & Yu, Dawei & Chen, Xiaofen & Cheng, Rong & Min, Shang & Wang, Jiangquan & Xiao, Qingcong & Wang, Jihua, 2015. "Overview of membrane technology applications for industrial wastewater treatment in China to increase water supply," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 105(PA), pages 1-10.
    17. Xue, Bing & Ma, Zhixiao & Geng, Yong & Heck, Peter & Ren, Wanxia & Tobias, Mario & Maas, Achim & Jiang, Ping & Puppim de Oliveira, Jose A. & Fujita, Tsuyoshi, 2015. "A life cycle co-benefits assessment of wind power in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 338-346.
    18. Lei Tong & Mengdie Luo, 2024. "Spatiotemporal Evolution Characteristics and Driving Factors of Water-Energy-Food-Carbon System Vulnerability: A Case Study of the Yellow River Basin, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-32, January.
    19. Maaß, Oliver & Grundmann, Philipp, 2016. "Added-value from linking the value chains of wastewater treatment, crop production and bioenergy production: A case study on reusing wastewater and sludge in crop production in Braunschweig (Germany)," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 195-211.
    20. Borrego-Marín, María M. & Berbel, J., 2019. "Cost-benefit analysis of irrigation modernization in Guadalquivir River Basin," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 416-423.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:12:p:2156-:d:1541096. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.