1st Edition

The Economics of Regional Water Quality Management

By Allen V. Kneese Copyright 2011

    First Published in 2011. How clean should a stream be? And what represents an efficient way of bringing about desired conditions? These are the basic issues that confront those who are concerned with the husbandry of water resources through pollution control. This book offers form and substance to the concept of water quality management. It is unique in that it provides specific illustration of how theory and methodology of resources allocation may be employed in the formulation of rational decisions affecting water use and reuse.

    Part I The Nature of the Problem; Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Some Technical and Engineering Facts Concerning Water Quality; Part II Economic Efficiency, Social Costs, and Equity; Chapter 3 Water Pollution and Resources Allocation by Private Markets; Chapter 4 Causing Offsite Costs to be Reflected in Waste Disposal Decisions; Chapter 5 A Study of Comparative Programs for Controlling Salinity in the Ohio; Part III Regional Waste Disposal Systems; Chapter 6 Regional Water Quality Management Systems Including Large-Scale Measures; Chapter 7 Water Management in the Ruhr'” A Case Study of the Genossenschaften; Part IV Implementation and Administration; Chapter 8 Establishing a Water Quality Management System;

    Biography

    Allen V. Kneese

    'The core of Kneese's argument can be summarized as follows. Water pollution is a classic example of a 'technological external diseconomy.' By virtue of a technical link between production processes, the costs of a given action are borne by economic units other than those performing the action. Specifically, in water pollution a waste discarder pays nothing for the use of a valuable resource and imposes economic costs on other economic units downstream... The book contains many provocative and useful notions, including some well-stated counters to an extreme 'conservation' position...the book is an important contribution to resource economics, and I expect its readers will find it a sound investment...' Irving Hoch, University of California, Berkeley