Marginal Cost Estimates of the Water Resources of the USSR

A water-management regionalization and determination of marginal cost estimates of water resources over the next three decades (to about 2000) outlines a set of priorities for the construction of dams and interbasin diversion projects. The predicted water requirements are based on the assumption that irrigation needs will increase at a moderate rate (30 million hectares by the end of the forecast period). The resulting marginal cost estimates are expected to affect long-term plans for the location of water-intensive activities (irrigation, water transport, thermal power generation, chemicals, pulp and paper) for which water costs may represent 40 to 50 percent of the total cost difference between alternate locations.