SEDIMENTATION OF RESERVOIRS: PREVENTION VS CLEANUP

Soil erosion from cropland contributes significantly to reducing storage capacity in reservoirs. A model is developed for comparing economic desirability of various catchment level soil conservation practices. Results from an illustrative case study show that prevention of sediment accumulation can be much more economical than sediment removal at the reservoir level.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

SEDIMENT MANAGEMENT IN FLOOD CONTROL DAMS

Reservoir sedimentation reduces economic value and longevity of flood control dams. Periodic sediment removal allows extension of reservoir life. An optimal control model is developed to evaluate alternative sediment management strategies for flood control dams. An illustrative empirical analysis shows that sustainable management is economically desirable for a wide range of parameter values.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Optimal location of centralized biodigesters for small dairy farms: A case study from the United States

Anaerobic digestion technology is available for converting livestock waste to bio-energy, but its potential is far from fully exploited in the United States because the technology has a scale effect. Utilization of the centralized anaerobic digester (CAD) concept could make the technology economically feasible for smaller dairy farms. An interdisciplinary methodology to determine the cost minimizing location, size, and number of CAD facilities in a rural dairy region with mostly small farms is described. This study employs land suitability analysis, operations research model and Geographical Information System (GIS) tools to evaluate the environmental, social, and economic constraints in selecting appropriate sites for CADs in Windham County, Connecticut. Results indicate that overall costs are lower if the CADs are of larger size and are smaller in number

The Economic Value of Delaying Adaptation to Sea-Level Rise: An Application to Coastal Properties in Connecticut

The magnitude and frequency of coastal storms are expected to increase with rising global sea levels, which necessitates evaluating coastal flood adaptation measures. This study examines an important issue in the context of coastal flood protection, namely, the decision when to adopt protection measures. For any given coastal region, our benefit-cost framework allows us to determine the optimal timing of initiating protection that maximizes expected net benefits. We present an application of this framework to a coastal area in Connecticut. Our results suggest that the optimal timing of adopting protection may vary across different census blocks within the study area. We find that using a relatively low discount rate in the benefit-cost analysis implies greater heterogeneity in the timing decisions and earlier overall adoption, whereas, with higher discount rates, the timing decisions are reduced to a choice between early protection and no protection at all. If possible negative environmental and aesthetic impacts of sea barriers are taken into account, delaying protection would become more desirable, with the extent of delay being sensitive to the relative magnitude of one-time costs (e.g., loss of ocean view and recreational opportunities) vs. continuous costs (e.g., shoreline erosion and loss of wetlands)

On the Natural and Economic Difficulties to Fulfilling the Human Right to Water

We present, to the best of our knowledge, the first economic model of the human right to water using a nonrenewable resource model inclusive of a backstop technology. The right is interpreted as a minimum consumption requirement the government is obligated to fulfill in the event that any one household cannot do so independently. Differing by income levels, households maximize utility by purchasing a composite consumption good and water from two distinct, government-owned sources. Facing physical and financial constraints, the government uses fiscal policy to address potential human rights violations. Reducing the analysis to two-periods, we develop a novel approach to compare total welfare levels from a joint human rights and economics perspective. We define a human rights welfare standard and discuss cases where traditional social welfare measures would meet, surpass, or violate this standard. We thus offer a unique way to merge economic analysis with human rights research.Nonrenewable resource, water, minimum consumption requirement, human right to water, government policy