ABSTRACT
The economics of quality management are significant problems for many natural resources. The technological aspects of water quality are no less amenable to precise quantitative measurement than the volume, weight, or flow rate usually employed to measure water quantity. Real external social costs and benefits are more important in water quality than in water quantity management. The chapter suggests suggest that the distribution of the costs of maintaining such a standard appears no less important than a particular standard and the quantitative level of the abatement investment associated with it. Drainage of such ground water through streams and canals is becoming a crucial problem for the continuity of irrigated agriculture. Water pollution has long been the classical example of real external economies and diseconomies. Timing needs to be stressed because, owing to variations of flow rate, temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and other conditions, water resources vary over time in their capacity to receive discharge.
