Social and private costs of water for irrigation: the small desalination plant in San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain

Abstract

Among non-conventional water resources, desalination (from seawater or brackish aquifers) has emerged as a feasible option to deal with water shortages in arid or semi-arid areas. At the University of Alicante (UA, SE Spain) water availability is lacking and groundwater is poor. To ensure water availability, the UA built a small reverse osmose (RO desalination plant (45 m3/day) to water the green areas and an urban park on the campus. The costs of a small private desalination plant, landscape irrigation and the full cost were assessed. This assessment considered the benefits made by the green areas existing in an urban space and citizens' willingness to pay (WTP) for its preservation based in the contingent valuation method (CVM)Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft