> Still, in many cases there’s little incentive for farmers to save water. Agriculture uses 62 percent of China’s water, but crops have a relatively low marginal value. So the government bans the sale of agricultural water to industry, which pays 10 times the price, to ensure food supply.
This discount on water is effectively a cash subsidy for agriculture that increases with the amount of water wasted instead of useful goods sold.
Seems like every country everywhere has the same issue: they don't want to sell water at the price it is actually worth, so it gets wasted and people complain about water security issues. (Then if it's a city residential area, they introduce rules like "no watering your lawn" in the hope that it will reduce waste, instead of canceling the 90% off all-year-round water sale.)
This discount on water is effectively a cash subsidy for agriculture that increases with the amount of water wasted instead of useful goods sold.
Seems like every country everywhere has the same issue: they don't want to sell water at the price it is actually worth, so it gets wasted and people complain about water security issues. (Then if it's a city residential area, they introduce rules like "no watering your lawn" in the hope that it will reduce waste, instead of canceling the 90% off all-year-round water sale.)