Economic implications of groundwater protection choices for drinking water supply

Abstract

Water managers may face different alternatives of water protection to ensure drinking water supply to the population. This article highlights the economic implications of groundwater protection alternatives through the analysis of three contrasted evolution pathways of drinking water catchments. Economic evaluation approaches are applied to two original case studies to show the costs and environmental co-benefits of groundwater protection. This article points out that it is necessary to go beyond the simple comparison of preventive and curative actions, by considering also into the analysis the costs of restoring groundwater quality and the environmental co-benefits of groundwater protection over the long term.