Cost assessment of various means of averting environmental damage and groundwater contamination from nitrate seepage

Fertilizers are used in addition to irrigation water to increase soil fertility and productivity, but cropped areas are sources of groundwater contamination due to loads of nitrates carried downwards by seepage of excess water. The public is increasingly aware of the grave problems of environmental damage caused by groundwater pollution, These environmental effects are not considered by farmers, whose production motivation is to get high profits, and there is a clash of interests between the farmers and the state. Consideration of environmental issues can be imposed on farmers by constraints on resources or by pricing of inputs, We compare the interests involved and assess the possibilities open to both the individual and the state. Hence, we quantify the agricultural inputs required and suggest appropriate administrative and pricing methods to control resultant damages. These are estimated by means of a linear-programming based-optimization model applied to the southern region of Israel. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.