When water scarcity starts hitting agriculture and welfare, tradabl
e watcr rlghts -the foundation of market-based water allocation- sh
ould be estab-lished by leglslations. Tradable water rights are rig
hts to use water that can be transferred all or in part, separately
from land transfer. They are not permanent, can be leased for a se
ason, a year, or many years at a price set within law. In formulati
on of the law, care should be paid to a clear definition oi' the ch
aracteristics of the water rights, the conditions and regulations c
oncerning its trade. Water rights are practiced widely in Australla
, New Mexico, California in the U.S., and in Chile.
4.5.4 Water tax
Several developed countries in Europe have levied a tax on water us
e in order to effectively control and save the limiting water resou
rces in the country. In such a policy, the user must consider the o
pportunity cost of every liter of water he will be using, instead o
f growlng rlce, he might raise fishes in a pond. This concept Is st
range to the Asian norm, but may be the last measure to take when w
ater is no longer plentiful to sup-port agricultural development in
the country.
5. CONCLUSION
Accelerating water scarcity problems and competition between uses of water pose
a seri-ous pollcy challenge to policy-makers in the developing and industriallz
ed countries alike. As world popu]ation increases, the per capita water availab
ility will dccrcase, affecting adversely our agricultural development. In order
to sustain agriculture to ensure enough food for all, aside from good practice
of population control and appropriate agricultural tcchnologies, new approache
s to water resource management have to be institutlonalized as soon as possible
in order to improve the efficiency and equlty of irrigatlon and water supply s
ystems. Thesc approaches include the rehabilitation of exlsting ineffective irr
i-gation systems, the empoldering of fruit tree orchards where ever it is plann
ed in the flood-prone areas, various methods of increasing the efficacy of on-f
arm water manage-ment, various ways of rain water harvesting for growing crops,
using shallow aquifers for small-scale irrigation schemes, and alternative wat
er allocation pollcies. The govern-ment role in administering large-scale irrig
ation systems are clear, but for small-scale system it would be more efficient
to transfer the responsibility to user groups. When water scarcity reaches a hl
gh level, water rights and water tax may have to be established. All these meas
ures are to make sure that agricultural production would continue without failu
re.
