Water charging in irrigated agriculture
During the last decade, the concept of water demand management has received increasing attention from both academics and development agencies and banks. In the face of rising costs for supply augmentation and concerns over the apparently inefficient use of water in agriculture, managing demand appears a priority means of mitigating water scarcity problems. Economists, in particular, have used theoretical frameworks to argue for the use of "economic instruments" to provide incentives that may lea d to water saving or enhancing economic efficiency.