A drop of rainwater against a drop of groundwater: does rainwater harvesting really allow us to spare Groundwater?

Hubert Stahn (1) , Agnès Tomini (1)

1 GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille

This paper is concerned with groundwater management issues in the presence of rainwater harvesting (RWH). Namely, we propose a two-state model in order to take into account the standard dynamics of the aquifer and the dynamics of the storage capacity since the collected rainwater reduces the natural recharge. We analyze the trade-off between these two water harvesting techniques in an optimal control model. We notably show that, when these techniques are pure substitutes, the development of RWH conducts in the long run to a depletion of the water table even if pumping is reduced.

Mots clés: Rainwater Harvesting; Conjunctive Use; Groundwater Optimal Control Management; Dynamic Model

Domaines: Economies et finances

Hubert Stahn, Agnès Tomini. A drop of rainwater against a drop of groundwater: does rainwater harvesting really allow us to spare Groundwater?. 2010. ⟨halshs-00443667⟩