The Sustainability and Cost-Effectiveness of Water Storage Projects on Canterbury Rivers: The Opihi River Case Edward J. S. Hearnshaw Lecturer in Ecological Economics, Faculty of Commerce, Lincoln University e-mail:
[email protected] Ross Cullen Professor of Resource Economics, Faculty of Commerce, Lincoln University Paper presented at the 2010 NZARES Conference Tahuna Conference Centre – Nelson, New Zealand. August 26-27, 2010. Copyright by author(s). Readers may make copies of this document for non-commercial purposes only, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. The Sustainability and Cost-Effectiveness of Water Storage Projects on Canterbury Rivers: The Opihi River Case Edward J. S. Hearnshaw1 and Ross Cullen2 1Lecturer in Ecological Economics, Faculty of Commerce, Lincoln University Email:
[email protected] 2Professor of Resource Economics, Faculty of Commerce, Lincoln University Water is the classic common property resource. No one really owns the problem. Therefore, no one really owns the solution. Ban Ki-moon Abstract: There is an increasing demand for water resources in the Canterbury region. The impact of this demand has lead to unacceptable minimum river flows, which has resulted in adverse affects to river ecology. In an effort to resolve this problem water storage projects have gained considerable attention. However, in order to consider all values of the impact of water storage projects, a systematic way of implementing an ecosystem services approach is developed. This ecosystem services approach coupled with various appropriate analytical methods are developed for the purposes of evaluating the cost-effectiveness of water storage projects and the sustainability of river systems impacted by water storage projects.