Rainwater Harvesting under Endogenous Capacity of Storage : a solution to aquifer preservation?

Hubert Stahn (1) , Agnès Tomini (1)

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

This paper studies groundwater management in the presence of rainwater harvesting (RWH). We propose a two-state model that takes into account the standard dynamics of the aquifer and the dynamics of the storage capacity and we assume that the collection of rainwater reduces the natural recharge. We analyze the trade-off between these two water harvesting techniques in an optimal control model. In particular, we show that when these techniques are pure substitutes, the development of RWH leads in the long run to a depletion of the water table even if pumping is reduced.

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

Domaines: Economies et finances

Hubert Stahn, Agnès Tomini. Rainwater Harvesting under Endogenous Capacity of Storage : a solution to aquifer preservation?. 2011. ⟨halshs-00626334⟩