Economic Aspects of the Conjunctive Use of Ground and Surface Water

Abstract The different structure of the costs of ground and surface water and the different and complementary characteristics of both kinds of resources make it possible to solve the specific needs of water quantity and quality more adequately and economically if both resources are used conjunctively. Higher discount rates favour the inclusion of elements involving lower initial investment and generally with higher groundwater components. Lower discount rates favour a higher participation of surface water. The external factors produced by groundwater pumping must be taken into consideration in any economic analysis. Examples of external factors are water level descents, surface water flow r…