Economic valuation of water to examine water allocation in different usages (Case study: Bajestan plain)

To provide quality water for various uses in drinking, health and agricultural sectors, arid regions of our country is facing many challenges. Due to its strategic location and higher sensitivity, drinking water needs better quality. The study area of Bajestan is one of dry lands of Razavi Khorasan province. This city is located in the central area of this area. The agricultural water of this plain is supplied from three Qanats with good quality of the plain, and original resource water for drinking, sanitation and urban green spaces is supplied from the transfer water of playa with lower quality. Since most of groundwater of this area is used in the agricultural sector, this research is aimed at economic analysis of prices, in order to determine the actual price of water input in different uses and compare their ratio. Benefit to cost is done in allocating the type of water source. Considering the population of Bajestan city of 14000 people and daily per capita consumption of 3 liters per person, the daily cost of 42.09 m3 of drinking water is 115441332 IRRs, while the actual daily cost of water in the health sector for this population is 93283042. The results of analysis of costs in the agricultural sector in pomegranate, saffron and pistachio products showed that the ratio of profit to cost is 0.87, 2.2 and 0.89, respectively, which shows that the production of product is not efficient. This is the sector and in the case of raw water sold by farmers to Water Company, even at a third of the actual price of drinking water, that is 914000 IRRs. It leads to a decrease in the aquifer and also to an increase in profit for the smallholder farmers and the management, optimizing water consumption and allocation will help.