Assessment of irrigation water prices

We present a method for the assessment of the cost of irrigation water. This method is based on discounting. The computation of the "financial" cost, which does not integrate externalities, is an intermediary step for the calculation of the "full" cost of water resource mobilization. The method we present here is simple, theoretically robust and easy and swift to use. It allows public authorities, monagers and farmers to access a more accurate knowledge of this cost, its composition, and its distribution between water users. To illustrate this method, we apply it to five irrigation networks, chosen so that they may be representative of a majority of French irrigation systems.