Integrated Biophysical and Economic ModellingFramework to Assess Impacts of Alternative Groundwater Management Options

Abstract

We developed an integrated biophysical and economic modeling framework to assess impact of various groundwater management options on seawater intrusion and waterlogging and ultimate impact on sugarcane profitability in a coastal region of North Queensland, Australia. The modelling framework used the output of a groundwater management flow model (waterlogged and seawater intruded areas) and a crop simulation model (simulated crop yield) and maximised the net revenue in a mathematical programming (optimisation) model. The framework determined the economically optimal level of water use on different soil types and in different management regimes and estimated impact of seawater intrusion and waterlogging on net revenue of growing sugarcane in two neighbouring water board areas (North Burdekin Water Board -NBWB and South Burdekin Water Board -SBWB). In NBWB, the predicted aggregate net revenue was highest ($19.95 million) when groundwater use was also highest (70%) while predicted aggregate net revenue was lowest when groundwater use was also lowest. In SBWB, the predicted aggregate net revenue was highest ($23 million) when groundwater use was relatively low (61%). The predicted aggregate net revenues of all the management options were higher in SBWB than NBWB.

Sustainable, Just, Equal, and Optimal Groundwater Management Strategies to Cope with Climate Change: Insights from Brazil

“…Khan et al (2008) predicted the optimal mix of land uses at a farm scale by integrating agronomic, climatic, hydro-geologic, and economic aspects of irrigated agriculture. I will not explicitly show the effects of changing cropping patterns and crop rotations, or of urbanisation extension and types, but will instead refer to the dynamics of human withdrawals by considering a wide range of possible impacts of climate change: further research to identify optimal land use in order to minimise the impacts of climate change on groundwater quantity and quality would be of great interest; see Qureshi et al (2008) for some methodological insights. Finally, Holman (2005) showed that the physical properties of a landscape, such as soil bulk density, water retention, and hydraulic conductivity could change due to the changing conditions in temperate soils.…”

Integrated assessment of policy interventions for promoting sustainable irrigation in semi-arid environments: A hydro-economic modeling approach

“…Recent hydro-economic model applications have been developed to study water quality problems and environmental restoration issues (e.g. Becker and Friedler, 2013;Qureshi et al, 2008;Yang et al, 2007), droughts and climate change impacts (e.g. Harou et al, 2010;Maneta et al, 2009), water allocation strategies (e.g.…”

Economic Modelling for Water Quantity and Quality Management: A Welfare Program Approach

“…Loehman and Dinar 1994;Ansink and Ruijs 2008); ii) valuation methods (Viscusi et al 2008); iii) optimization models (e.g. Yaron 1979;Chakravorty et al 1995;Babel et al 2005;Qureshi et al 2008;Fisher 2008); and iv) integrated hydro-economic models (Rosegrant et al 2000;Cai et al 2003;Heinz et al 2007;Koch and Grünewald 2009;Prodanovic and Simonovic 2010). These models deal with water issues from different perspectives.…”