WRRCTR No.164 Water-Use Coefficients and Resource Multipliers for Oahu, Hawaii

U.S. Department of the Interior Grant/contact No. CT371300 (371306)The proliferation of the number of water multipliers in recent years has increased the likelihood that misunderstanding and misuse will occur by practitioners not well trained in the interindustry analysis. What is needed is a more standardized terminology and a more critical evaluation of the meaning and use of these multipliers. To this purpose, water resource multipliers were estimated for Oahu, and the usefulness of such multipliers for public planning and decision making in Hawaii are critiqued. The method of analysis used is the Leontief input-output or interindustry model. The Oahu model was developed from data used to construct the state input-output (I-0) model. Water use by economic sector was estimated from primary and secondary data. Three general types of water multipliers were estimated and evaluated for Oahu. The water-final demand coefficients can be useful in estimating water use under alternative development scenarios. The water-own multiplier was found to have limited value for planning in Hawaii. The water-income ratio is supposed to quantify the tradeoff between sectoral income and water use. However, this ratio is conceptually troublesome and it takes multiplier analysis beyond its traditional positive role into the normative arena