Limited water resources are increasingly constrained by growing water demand for agricultural, industrial, and domestic uses, which in turn exacerbates environmental degradation and water-quality problems. This research report develops and applies a comprehensive decision-support tool for examining these issues at the river-basin level—the natural unit of analysis for water allocation and use. Authors Ximing Cai, Claudia Ringler, and Mark Rosegrant develop an integrated hydrologic– economic river-basin model, simulating water flows, salinity balances, and crop growth under water-allocation scenarios. One of the main advantages of the model is its ability to reflect the dynamic interactions of essential hydrologic, agronomic, and economic components and to... |