Water Pricing for Agriculture between Cost Recovery and Water Conservation: Where do we Stand in France? - Water and Agriculture: Sustainability, Markets and Policies - page 17

Chapter 2.
Water Pricing for Agriculture between Cost Recovery
and Water Conservation:
Where do we Stand in France?

Thierry Rieu 1

Based on concrete case studies this communication presents the French experience in
water pricing for various regions and irrigated schemes and over time. It shows a large
range of ways for charging for water that could be analysed in light of the main
objectives that are dedicated to it by policymakers and water managers: cost recovery,
income redistribution among users and water conservation. This last issue will give us
the opportunity to discuss the incentives to save water they provide in order to evaluate
the consistency of these economic instruments with the European Water Framework
Directive.

Introduction

The last few years have recorded an increase in competition over water resources in
France as in many parts of the world — competition over quantities of water, its quality
or the ecological status of water ecosystems. In response to this, the Water Framework
Directive 2 (European Communities, 2000), and consequently the next French water law,
are taking into account scarcity and the environmental aspects. In particular, Annex 9 of
the WFD recommends the setting up of economic instruments, based on the polluter-pays
principle in order to insure incentive pricing to water savings and “adequate” cost
recovery. By the way, this European directive is the first one to recommend the
implementation of economic principles.
When looking at the economic instruments in question, the incentive to save water
remains weak, as the level for water abstraction fees remains low and water pricing is
often designed to reach budget, even in the Mediterranean countries (Chohin-Kuper,
2002) where pressure on water is high. In France, although a draft law on water proposes
an increase in taxes, a drastic change in water pricing is not really expected. This is
somewhat contradictory to the present French water law of 3 January 1992, whose main
objective is to ensure the protection of water quality and quantity and aquatic ecosystems.

1.

École Nationale du Génie Rural des Eaux et des Forêts, Montpellier, France.

2. “The principle of cost recovery for water services, including environmental and resource costs

[…] should be taken into account in accordance with, in particular, the polluter-pays principle.”