Economic evaluation of water resources development

Abstract

An impressive array of literature dealing with water resources development is accumulating in the bookshelves of both economists and engineers. This literature stresses the essential interdisciplinary teamwork involved in the study of water resources - teamwork involving primarily the economist and the engineer, with recourse to the advice of the geologist, soil scientist, plant scientist and other professions. In this paper I have outlined the theoretical basis for resource allocation and how it is probably impossible to ensure that real situations conform even approximately to this optimum. The techniques accepted as useful in the economic evaluation of water resources development have been discussed. Some institutional factors in New Zealand which may distort the desirable allocation of public money have been mentioned. The various professions concerned in water resources development have come of age and should be given the opportunity of devoting some of their energies to a modern approach to this vital question.