A Leader-Follower Framework for Sustainable Water Pricing and Allocation

Sina Jahanshahi, Reza Kerachian () and Omid Emamjomehzadeh
Additional contact information
Sina Jahanshahi: University of Tehran
Reza Kerachian: University of Tehran
Omid Emamjomehzadeh: University of Tehran

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2023, vol. 37, issue 3, No 13, 1257-1274

Abstract: Abstract This paper presents a new leader-follower decision-making framework for the automatic assessment and comparison of different water resources management scenarios and selection of the best one. WEAP (Water Evaluation and Planning) model is used to simulate different management scenarios, which are reasonable from the viewpoint of the leader decision-maker, and evaluate the response of water users (followers). A number of management scenarios are developed for water pricing and allocation to followers in the agricultural, industrial, and fishery sectors. The results are evaluated by a novel sustainability index considering economic performance, water allocation efficiency, and social equity criteria. The economic performance is evaluated by two indices assessing the profit of the basin’s leader and followers. The efficiency of water allocation policies is analyzed by an index using the Evidential Reasoning approach. Social equity is inspected by an index evaluating the distribution of incomes among followers using the Gini coefficient concept. The Gorganrud-Qaresou basin in Iran is used as a case study to demonstrate the applicability and efficiency of the proposed framework and the sustainability index. Sustainable water allocation policies and water prices for agricultural, industrial, and fishery sectors in the basin are the main findings of this paper. The results show that current water tariffs are low, particularly for the agricultural sector, and it could lead to inefficient use of water by followers, which has been the case in many regions in Iran.

Keywords: Sustainability index; Leader-follower game; Water allocation; Water pricing; WEAP; Gini coefficient (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-023-03428-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:37:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11269-023-03428-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11269

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-023-03428-w

Access Statistics for this article

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris

More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().