Economic assessment of water resources for the supply of drinking water. The case of the Cajas National Park. The Tomebamba river basin.

Climate change is altering the behavior of water cycles in different parts of the planet and threats with strong repercussions on the lives of many species, including human. There are plenty of evidence that the lifestyle and productive forms of today's society, mainly from developed countries, are contributing to accelerate climate change, possibly to levels that would exceed the ability to assimilate the planet's biota. Given the alarming evidence of the environmental problem in general and the water problem in particular, efforts aimed at reducing the human causes, as far as possible. But the distribution of responsibilities still involves serious inconvenience both internationally and regional and local; One of the challenges is to determine the economic value of the affected resources, as a reference to establish compensation, priorities, management plans and also contributions by the same beneficiaries of water resources. In the present study, the particular risk situation for an Andean Páramo, the Cajas National Park, a water source that, purified by a state company, covers the requirements of the city of Cuenca has been analyzed. Some of the main methods of economic valuation of natural resources have been reviewed, preferably applicable to goods and services that are not marketed in a market, since, in the Ecuadorian case, by constitutional mandate, all water resources are state -owned and the rate of drinking water does not assign any cost to the raw water that is processed. Based on the current theory, the contingent value method turns out to be, if not the optimal one, one of the most appropriate for these cases. Through a sample of users of the service and applying the double -limit dichotomous model, the economic value of this resource is established, giving the predictions of Hanemann et al., On the increase in statistical precision. This project seeks to take advantage of the research carried out in the doctoral thesis of Diego Roldán, presented in traditional format, and that having obtained the maximum qualification, mention Cum Laude and recommendation of its publication, requires additional academic work that allows to specify a publication in scientific article format focused on the economy results of the economic valuation and the critical interpretation of its results, and on the other hand, a relevant expansion of the state Publication in book format aimed at highlighting the social and economic importance of the box of boxes as a water regulation system

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