Can water rights trading pilot policy ensure food security in China? Based on the difference-in-differences method

Ensuring food security in China is the primary task in solving the problems of ‘agriculture, countryside, and farmers’. Based on Chinese provincial panel data from 2009 to 2018, this paper evaluates the impact of a water rights trading pilot policy (WRTPP) on food security and examines its underlying mechanism. To overcome the estimation bias existing in previous studies, we use the difference-in-differences method, which can separate time effects from policy treatment effects and is an effective tool to compare the effect before and after policy implementation. We, therefore, use this method to evaluate the net effect of the WRTPP on food security. It is found that the WRTPP can help ensure food security. This effect reaches its maximum in the fourth year after the policy's implementation. It is further found that the WRTPP can improve the adoption of agricultural water-saving irrigation technology to increase the grain yield. Our conclusions complement existing evidence on the factors influencing food security. From the perspective of improving farmers’ water-saving irrigation technology, we confirm that the mechanism of the water right trading pilot policy helps ensure food security.

Water Rights Related to Water Supplies and Uses

As human development and urbanization progress, concepts of water rights for water use have been applied to water consumption for managing human life. The water cycle can be divided into natural and artificial water cycles, whereas water rights can be divided into water supply and water use rights for humans and nature. In this paper, the relationships between the river act, dam construction act, sanitary act, sewerage act, forest resource act, and other acts and water rights corresponding to water-right categories and government ministries are summarized and organized. In addition, the legal inclusive scope and redefinition of water rights are proposed. The results of this study can be applied to river and reservoir engineering models based on water rights in residential areas.

Farmer Evaluation of Irrigation Services. Collective or Self-Supplied?

Economic evaluation of farmland is an important issue in the agricultural sector. The aim of this study was to quantify the economic value of land in the farmland area of the Reclamation and Irrigation Board of Capitanata (Apulia region), differentiating by irrigation water service type (collective or self-supplied). The analysis involved a heuristic evaluation using the hedonic pricing method of the sales comparison approach. The data was gathered through a survey on a group of 75 farmers. The results showed higher capitalization values in the case of lands served by self-supplied sources from groundwater. Actually, in the long-term, an enhanced reliability was found for the self-supplied rather than collective services. The findings highlight the importance for collective water associations of differentiating water rights allocations on the basis of a volume guarantee. In future, water user associations of collective services could consider a different water right system along with price discrimination to efficiently allocate the resource among farmers and improve the sustainability of current water management.

Decision support system for evaluation of available surface water resources for use in Slovenia – development of the basis

<p>According to the Water Law of the Republic of Slovenia anyone who wants to use water resources in addition to the general use (e.g. drinking, swimming and other recreational uses) needs to acquire a water right. Approving the water rights is in principal based on two conditions: (i) the discharge downstream from the withdrawal should be at least equal to ecologically acceptable flow and (ii) the withdrawal of the water should not influence the natural conditions or other already present uses and needs of water resources. Through the development of the system’s basis we have focused on the first condition, the hydrologically available water resources.</p><p>The information about the amount of the water in a river or a stream is provided by the discharge measurements, performed at locations of the water gauging stations by the Slovenian Environmental agency (ARSO). However, when granting a water permit, the location of certain water withdrawal can be anywhere along the watercourse. Therefore, we have tested seven advanced statistical models to connect characteristic discharges (mean and mean minimal discharge for a selected 30-year period) at measured points with attribute data describing the properties of the corresponding catchment. The 49 attribute values were gathered through analysis of spatial data in GIS environment and provided information about precipitation, temperature, geological structure, land use and water use in the area. According to the comparison of models performance we have selected the neural networks. They were used to estimate characteristic discharges in 340 selected points on the water courses all over the country. These values provide the basis for calculation of the ecologically acceptable flow and the amount of discharge available for use under certain terms. In addition, for the selected points (340 points) also the natural (reference) discharge was estimated as a discharge which would be observed without any water use present upstream. Simulations of natural discharge situation were performed for various scenarios and multiple selected test cases. The estimated differences between natural and measured discharge for selected points was than generalized for all the other points using the hierarchical clustering approach. So far the basic information about the amount of water available for use on watercourses with basins larger than 10 km<sup>2</sup> was estimated. However, the project is ongoing with the focus on improving the models, including the complex interactions between surface waters and groundwaters, and taking into account the vulnerability of the natural environment and ecosystem services they provide as well as sectoral needs.</p>

Scale for Attitude Towards Water Conservation

Water Conservation is the need of the hour and attitudes towards conserving the resources is what is sure to become a priority in the coming years. The paper introduces a scale constructed to test the Attitude towards water conservation in India. It contains various sub-scales that include a General Attitude towards water conservation, Past behavior/experience, Moral obligation to save water resources, Perceived water right, and Behavioural intention of conserving water resources. 432 participants participated in a nationwide survey and their responses were checked for reliability. Results reveal that people generally have a positive attitude towards water conservation and that there is substantial potential of the resources’ conservation. The scale can be used to measure attitude changes and thereby the effectiveness of an implemented plan of action concerning water conservation.

Mechanical Properties of Fly Ash Based Geopolymer Concrete and Conventional Concrete

Creation of concrete includes devouring of common non-sustainable assets. The concrete ventures have been ordered as profoundly dirtying enterprises. It is relevant to utilize eco-accommodating strategies in a manner to supplant, lessen or reuse the customary materials to be utilized in cements (Portland Cement Concrete). Solid utilization is underdog to water right now. Normal Portland concrete is ordinarily utilized as basically fastener to create concrete because of its accessibility of the crude materials everywhere throughout the world. The use of cement has extraordinarily affected the cutting edge world in framework, home and transportation, advancing the improvement of monetary advancement, human advancement and personal satisfaction. The natural issues related with the creation of OPC is notable, the measure of carbon dioxide discharged during the production of OPC because of calcinations of limestone and ignition of non-renewable energy sources is high. It is well kwon truth that creation of 1 kg of concretes delivers almost 1 kg of carbon dioxide. The degree of vitality required to deliver OPC is just beside steel and Aluminum so there is a need to conserve concrete. One of the solid answers for conserve concrete is to supplant with other strengthening establishing materials like fly debris, slag, meta kaolin, and so on then again the bottomless accessibility of fly debris, which being a side-effect of coal-based force plants the world over making a chance to enhance to OPC with fly debris. The all out creation of fly debris is almost as same as concrete, however our use of fly debris is just 5% of the creation, subsequently the utilization of fly debris ought to be improved.