Contributions of hydro-economic models to water management in France

Using concrete examples, this document shows how hydro-economic models can assist in dealing with three major problems confronting the managers of water resources.

Economic analysis plays an increasingly important role in managing water resources and aquatic environments. Unfortunately, economic studies are often carried out in parallel to hydrological studies, i.e. the hydrological functioning of the basin and the dependant socio-economic processes are not analysed in an integrated manner. Hydro-economic models are particularly useful in breaking through the partitions because they can assess the impact of different measures and management policies on water uses, resources, aquatic environments and the overall economic effectiveness of hydrological systems.