Science of the Total Environment 650 (2019) 734–740

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Science of the Total Environment

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv

Agricultural irrigation of vine crops from desalinated and brackish

groundwater under an economic perspective. A case study in
Siġġiewi, Malta
Jesus Aparicio a,b, Antonio J. Tenza-Abril c, Malcolm Borg d,e, John Galea d,e, Lucila Candela b,⁎
a
Department of Agri-Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Technical University of Catalonia-UPC, ESAB, Av. Canal Olímpic, s/n, 08860 Castelldefels, Spain
b
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Catalonia-UPC, DECA, Gran Capitan s.n., 08034 Barcelona, Spain
c
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Alicante-UA, Ctra. San Vicente s/n, 03690 Alicante, Spain
d
Centre for Agriculture, Aquatics & Animal Sciences, Institute of Applied Sciences, Malta College for Arts, Science & Technology, Luqa Road, Qormi, Malta
e
Water Research & Training Centre, University College, Malta College for Arts, Science & Technology, Corradino Hill, Paola, Malta

H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T

• Irrigation water quality degradation

from salinity may pose vineyards
production at risk at long term.
• Water quality improvement from
mixing groundwater and desalinated
may mitigate crop yield decrease.
• The economic feasibility of new
irrigation management option based in
the cost-benefit is assessed.
• Irrigation from mixing waters is
profitable for farmers from a minimum
irrigation area of 1 ha.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Maltese agriculture faces great challenges due to the severe scarcity of water. Sufficient water resources, in quan-
Received 9 July 2018 tity and quality, are necessary to cover the demand in the production of wine grape, one of the most important
Received in revised form 4 September 2018 crops in Maltese agriculture. But also, economic efficiency is essential in the grape cultivation. A Cost-Benefit
Accepted 4 September 2018
Analysis (CBA) is defined for Maltese vineyards in the Siġġiewi region, considering two irrigation scenarios, irri-
Available online 05 September 2018
gation with groundwater or “do-nothing”, compared with the “use non-conventional waters” from mixing water
Editor: D. Barcelo from a small desalination plant and groundwater. For the alternative ‘mixing desalinated water with groundwa-
ter’ it is possible to improve water availability and quality for vine crops, while increasing economic benefits for
Keywords: farmer. The results indicate a profitable project from a minimum area of 1 ha, but final benefit is highly dependent
Cost Benefit Analysis on the irrigated surface extension according to water price. Desalination, compared with other type of non-
Desalinated water conventional water is considered the best option in this assessment with a small reverse osmosis (RO) desalina-
Groundwater tion plant (120 m3 /day) for covering the irrigation needs.
Vine crops © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Agricultural management

1. Introduction

⁎ Corresponding author. Water availability and demand allocation, including agriculture,

E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Candela). depend mainly on optimal natural renewal resources exploitation,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.059
0048-9697/© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 J. Aparicio et al. / Science of the Total Environment 650 (2019) 734–740 735

integrated use management and management policy. Water availability Mediterranean region. Particularly in islands where groundwater con-
as a resource cannot be independently considered from water quality stitutes the main water supply resource and is of crucial importance
due to pollution or depletion induced by anthropogenic activities and for agricultural food production, crops and livestock. Vulnerable aqui-
possible impacts from climate change. In this sense, many countries fers are frequently located in zones of high demand such as coastal
around the world will be facing the increasing pressure of decreasing areas leading to water level drawdown producing seawater intrusion
fresh water supplies and that fresh water resources will become insuffi- and man-made pollution making water resources management very
cient to satisfy water needs for a number of goods and services. De- challenging. Agricultural research about viticulture in the Maltese
mands for water, energy and food production are estimated to islands has been limited to irrigation needs or management principally
increase by 40%, 50% and 35% respectively by 2030 (US NIC, 2012; (business as usual). Studies on economic costs and benefits of grape cul-
Endo et al., 2015). Water issues have been commonly discussed in the tivation for vine production and its economic profitability are lacking.
literature in terms of availability, use and reuse (including agriculture), This study is aimed to give a better understanding of the current
demand, consumption, quality, management, etc. (UNECE, 2011; local CBA related to Maltese vineyards in the Siġġiewi region. CBA was
Gleeson et al. 2012; WWAP, 2012; Panagopoulos, 2014; Candela et al., used herein to assess the ex-ante economic suitability (water quality im-
2016). In the last 20 years, papers on issues concerning global change provement for irrigation previous to project definition and implementa-
and water have been published (Olesen and Bindi, 2002; Giorgi and tion) of managing alternatives to address the water-agriculture nexus.
Lionello, 2008; Green, 2016; Di Matteo et al., 2017; Aslam et al., 2018). The research establishes two irrigation scenarios for the CBA analysis,
A detailed review of the numerous contributions is beyond of the the “do-nothing” option based on current irrigation with saline ground-
scope of this research. water and compared to the “use non-conventional waters” from mixing
To achieve water management and planning objectives, countries water from a small desalination plant and groundwater. The main ob-
usually apply two types of instruments, namely regulatory and eco- jective is to assess the farmer costs and benefits from irrigating 1 ha of
nomic. Economic instruments use market principles to achieve policy vineyard under the two management systems. A second objective is a
objectives involving the assessment of production and distribution sensitivity analysis of irrigation water cost (mixed water) considering
costs and possibly economic and environmental value; shift in eco- five different irrigation surfaces extension.
nomic factors may have an effect on water use and the most affected
sector is the water dependence of agricultural economy. Since agricul-
ture represents the largest consumer, pricing is part of the water- 2. Study area
agriculture nexus policy aiming at farm income protection based on
subsidies. As regards groundwater irrigation in many Mediterranean 2.1. The Maltese Islands. Siġġiewi study site
areas, the economic situation is different. In fact, most farmers who
use groundwater for irrigation pay practically the full cost of mainte- The Maltese Archipelago consists of three inhabited islands, Malta,
nance and operation waterworks, leading to systems that are more effi- Gozo, and Comino, and some other uninhabited much smaller islands,
cient. Identifying tradeoffs and synergies are key components of the which in all have a total surface area of 316 km2 and a total population
water-energy-food nexus-thinking research for sustainable develop- of about 450,000 (Fig. 1). Siġġiewi, located in South Western Malta
ment (WEF, 2011). For improving the water-food nexus efficiency, eco- (Fig. 1), is the third largest council in Malta and has about 9000
nomic approaches along with technical/governance activities, are inhabitants.
necessary for project design and implementation. Economic research The climate of the Maltese islands is typically semi-arid Mediterra-
activities addressing water management with agricultural management nean, with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. The short, heavy
benefits projects need to be developed and conducted to analyze and rainstorms, which are common during the transition from the dry to
understand inter-relationships and tradeoffs among resources. the wet season result in increased runoff and erosion (Schembri,
From an economic perspective, hydrologic-economic models have 1993; Falzon, 2013).
been used from different authors to assess extraction costs and dis- The geology of the Islands consists of marine sedimentary rocks,
charge willingness to pay for groundwater use including wetlands and mainly limestone of Oligo-Miocene age and some minor quaternary de-
recreation (Loomis, 2002; Burnett et al., 2017; Aparicio et al., 2017), posits of terrestrial origin (Pedley et al., 1976; Schembri, 1993). The
saltmarshes (Luisetti et al., 2014) or for agricultural production (Sales main stratigraphic units in order of decreasing age are: a) Lower Coral-
et al., 2017), among other applications. To our knowledge, studies on line Limestone; b) Globigerina Limestone; c) Blue Clay; d) Greensand
the economic importance of groundwater salinity and its effects on ag-
ricultural production considering small desalination plants have not
been reported in the literature.
To demonstrate projects economic feasibility certain indicators are
applied, among them the cost-benefit ratio is commonly used (Birol
et al., 2006). A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is a relatively simple and
widely used technique that assesses how a particular market or econ-
omy at a specific site may be changed by new policies and practices
(Layard and Glaister, 1994; Maliva, 2014). According to CBA, a project
should be only accepted if the benefits exceed any incurred costs.
While different management options will yield to different net benefits,
the option with the highest value is the preferred. The application of
CBA for the evaluation of projects related to water use is acquiring par-
ticular importance, even if values for water resources are not straight-
forward to estimate. Examples of this growing interest, mainly for
water use and reuse projects setting a different net benefit value
model for cost–benefit evaluation, are found in Godfrey et al. (2009),
Seguí et al. (2009), Chen and Wang (2009) and Molinos-Senante et al.
(2010) among other authors.
A good example of water increasing demand and low average
precipitation with great annual and inter-annual variation is the Fig. 1. Location of Maltese Islands and the Siġġiewi study area.
736 J. Aparicio et al. / Science of the Total Environment 650 (2019) 734–740

and e) Upper Coralline Limestone. Aquifer units are those composed of international varieties) and local vineyards are usually dryland, irriga-
limestone. tion is only applied when needed (dry periods).
The aquifers in the study area belong to the Globigerina Limestone Irrigation water data shows that the aquifer presents high salinity
and Upper Coralline Limestone. Mainly unconfined, fractures are (mainly due to chloride and nitrate presence). Salinity affects plants in
thought to play an important role in groundwater hydrodynamics; par- many ways physiologically (growth, defoliation, toxic accumulations,
ticularly within the marly middle formation, given that this formation etc.) and the only agronomical significant criterion for establishing salt
has quite a high fracture density where exposed (Sapiano et al., 2013). tolerance is the commercial crop yield. This is an important fact condi-
Groundwater electrical conductivity of 2000–3000 μS/cm and chloride tioning agricultural production, as vine production yield also depends
concentration between 400 and 600 ppm is commonly found in wells on water salinity. According to Maas and Hoffman (1977) and James
under exploitation (Falzon, 2013) because of seawater intrusion. et al. (1982), grape salinity optimum (threshold) is 1500 μS/cm based
Groundwater level ranges between 35 and 143 m.a.s.l. (Stuart et al. in a literature review; for an average irrigation water salinity value of
2010). 2700 μS/cm the expected decrease of crop yield may be 25%. In addition,
Malta is dependent on groundwater for both public supply and agri- vines are especially sensitive to chloride, which contributes to leaf chlo-
cultural irrigation as there is very limited surface water. Public supply rosis (Jackson, 2000).
sources include both boreholes and horizontal galleries dug into bed-
rock at the water table level (Sapiano et al., 2013). As the available re- 3. Data and methods
sources cannot meet the current demand, over 50% of water for public
supply is from seawater desalination by reverse osmose (RO). Seawater The economic analysis developed includes two phases: the first one
desalination began in 1983 and reached a peak during the1994/1995 focuses on the cost-benefit analysis of present agricultural management
period (Sapiano et al., 2013). (grapes) considering current groundwater salinity. The second step in-
volved mixing non-conventional water from desalination with ground-
2.2. Agricultural management water to decrease the salinity of water for wine irrigation and its cost-
benefit analysis assessment. In this second phase, production increase
Maltese agriculture faces great challenges due to the severe scarcity by lowering water salinity and cost of building a small RO desalination
of land and the equally severe scarcity of water (CCA, 2010), which is plant was considered. Desalinated water production is always from
aggravated by the population density and high annual tourist influxes. brackish groundwater pumped from the already existing wells in the
One of the most important crops and with a high demand is the produc- area. The economic analysis is only calculated for the international
tion of wine. Viticulture is a growing area of interest and the total area grapes varieties under irrigation.
under vines in the Maltese Islands is about 683 ha (MCCAA, 2013).
Nowadays, farmers mostly use groundwater for irrigation, but the 3.1. Data collection
groundwater level decrease, seawater intrusion and quality deteriora-
tion by agrichemicals leads to the cultivation of wine grapes at greater For the economic analysis assessment, data from current research
risk in a short-term and long-term than other crops (Jones and Webb, underway and other sources of information existing in the area, includ-
2010). Therefore, in order to continue with the production of wine, it ing data from the plot farmer, have been collected and provided by
is necessary to have sufficient water resources in quantity and quality MCAST. No new data sets were generated for the study area character-
to cover the demand, and for optimum yield and quality of the grape. ization, which was based on existing information. The Siġġiewi site ag-
The majority of the agricultural land in Malta is dryland for the cul- ricultural main land and agricultural management are presented in
tivation of forage crops, covering around 5552 ha (61.2% of the surface). Table 1.
Vineyards for wine production are the main permanent crop in 5.4% of Costs related to agricultural management, water supply and man-
the Islands' agricultural area (MCCAA, 2013). The quality wines pro- agement and beneficial effects (benefits) were estimated based on the
duced in Malta are mostly from international varieties (e.g. Merlot, information provided. The parameters, data and information needed
Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, and to determine the water production costs (fixed and variable) from a
Grenache) but there is also an increasing production from the two small desalination plant, are based on the previous work of Aparicio
main indigenous grape varieties (Ġellewża and Girgentina). Increasing et al. (2017) and are defined in Tables 2 and 3.
presence of wine made from the indigenous varieties on the market of
Quality Wines is a clear indication of the consumers change to wines 3.2. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA)
produced from the indigenous varieties (MRRA, 2012).
Viticulture in Siġġiewi has been present for a long time; however, it The CBA method is based on the net profit estimation for each possi-
was only until recently that there has been interest in scientific research ble project choice. The project selection is based on the difference
related to grapevine growing. This mainly came about with the Wine between revenues (the amount of money from grapes sold in this
Act of 2001 (CAP436, 2001). 34% of the agricultural land is under irriga- case), and the costs needed for the agricultural production, to be sup-
tion, and it has been increasing over the years (World Bank, 2013). The ported by the owner. Between the two general types of CBA analyses
most widespread source of irrigation water is from the underlying aqui- (ex-ante, ex-post, Boardman et al., 1994), the ex-ante CBA of a simple
fers (Vella, 2001).
At the Siġġiewi study site, wine production is from both indigenous
Table 1
and international grape varieties. Grapevines are usually planted at dis- Main characteristics of vineyard plot at Siġġiewi.
tances from 1.8 m to 2 m apart in all directions, and the resulting plant
density is of about 2500 to 3000 plants per ha for local varieties and Siġġiewi study area

5000 plants per ha for international grapes (Meekers, 2006; Falzon, Type of crop Vineyard (international varieties)
2013). The common irrigation system is by dripping from groundwater Vines per hectare 5000
Irrigated surface (ha) 1
wells mainly exploiting the Globigerina Limestone aquifer, following
Production (kg/ha) 8500 (per harvest)
plant needs and accounting for 120 L/vine/yr. Fertilization is carried Irrigation from groundwater Existing well (Lower Coralline Limestone aquifer)
out through mineral and organic fertilizers (NPK). The main difference Groundwater salinity (μS/cm) 2500–3000
between local and international vineyards management are the number Irrigation method Dripping
of vines per hectare, the organic management in the local varieties and Well depth (m) 128
Irrigation dose 120 L/plant/year
the training system (Alberello for local varieties and trellises for
 J. Aparicio et al. / Science of the Total Environment 650 (2019) 734–740 737

Table 2 option, which implies vineyards irrigation only with local groundwater
Breakdown of fixed and variable costs for a RO small desalination plant. and current salinity. For the “use non-conventional water” option takes
Fixed costs into account the recovery of the 25% lost production or damage caused
a) Initial investment: I = (A) I = Initial investment
(Kaenchan et al., 2018) from bad quality of groundwater irrigation
A = Cost of the desalination plant (Maas and Hoffman, 1977; James et al., 1982; Jackson, 2000), along
n
ið1þiÞ
b) Amortization: a ¼ I  ið1þiÞ n
I = Investment with the investment that would be needed to irrigate by mixing
−1
n = Lifetime groundwater with water from a small desalination plant. For the ‘do-
i = Interest
nothing’ option, groundwater salinity increase along time is also ex-
Variable costs pected leading to agricultural production losses (Itsubo and Inaba,
2014) as a result of seawater intrusion by wells exploitation. Therefore,
c) Operational and maintenance M = Maintenance (1% of total installed cost)
costs: MR = Replacing membranes
a decrease of the yield and brix levels of vineyard could be also taken
CE = M + MR + FCR + CP + E FCR = Replacing filter cartridges into account jointly with a significant loss of income.
CP = Chemical products The Internal Rate of Return (IRR), an investment efficiency indicator
E = Energy cost (well pumping, RO process, and a measure of the comparison of the two alternatives is also calcu-
transport)
lated. Generally, the higher a project's internal rate of return, the more
desirable it is to undertake as it refers to the profit rate which the
owner receives. The project (groundwater vs non-conventional water
irrigation) with the highest IRR is considered the best option.
purpose project for grape production, is considered here (therefore
The IRR calculation relies on the same formula as NPV does by setting
before irrigation project development with mixing water). Positive
it to 0 (Eq. (3)).
externalities from wine production and commercialization are not
considered in this economic analysis.
The CBA concept is that a project should be done only if the benefits T NBt
exceed the costs. For this purpose, all benefits are compared with their NPV ¼ ∑t−1 þ NB0 ¼ 0 ð3Þ
ð1 þ IRRÞt
costs by using a common economic analyses methodology (Eq. (1)).

NP ¼ TI−IC ð1Þ
where NB0 is the initial investment costs, NBt is the net cash inflow for
period t, IRR is the internal rate of return, and t is the time period.
where NP is the net profit (total internal benefit); The TI is the total in-
The CBA methodology to estimate NPV and IRR was applied to the
come, and IC are the internal costs. For the Siġġiewi case study, the total
two proposed scenarios, in order to assess project profitability accord-
internal benefit is grapes sales benefit or profit from agricultural pro-
ing to the different costs (Eq. (1)).
duction, while internal costs include: investment cost, annual volume
Final cost and benefit estimation is a critical issue for project feasibil-
of applied water and operational and maintenance costs (summarized
ity and it mainly depends on plot surface and irrigation water costs. A
in Table 3).
sensitivity analysis of the CBA results to assess the feasibility of project
When conducting cost-benefit analysis on a project, a more accurate
for 5 irrigated land surface extensions (0.5, 0.75, 1, 2 and 3 ha) was car-
result is obtained by converting all future costs and benefits to their
ried out. The final water price of irrigation water (€/m3 ) was obtained
present values. The Net Present Value (NPV) is a measure of whether a
by fixing plot extension and estimating the amortization and mainte-
project is profitable or not during the project economic horizon (life
nance of the small desalination plant and final sale of the grapes.
span): a negative value implies non-feasibility. The NPV criterion,
given in Eq. (2), is the principal investment project evaluation criterion
and is one of the most important tools applied in water project analyses. 3.2.1. Cost and benefit estimation
Direct costs applicable to both irrigation scenarios refer to those
T NP t needed for the agricultural management (land preparation, planting
NPV ¼ ∑t−1 ð2Þ
ð1 þ r Þt and cultivation, irrigation from well, renting equipment) needed for
each grape harvest (annually) and are shown in Table 3. Land and
where NPt is the net profit at year t; t is the relevant year; r is the dis- pump acquisition or value, and well installation have not been consid-
count rate or interest rate paid for using borrowed funds and T is the ered as a direct cost for this analysis; this is an already existing infra-
project lifespan. The rate at which benefits or costs are discounted is structure not specifically made for this study. Water consumption cost
known as the discount rate and refers to a common measure is obtained from considering 160 m3 /day pumping rate, power con-
representing the comparison of costs and benefits to occur at different sumption of 0.0072 kWh/m3 /m and 90 h/year to cover the 600 m3 de-
time period (benefits and costs vary from year to year). The applied dis- mand and a well with a submersible pump at 70 m deep.
count rate was 1.8% per year (OECD, 2018) for this type of projects; the Costs only applying for the facility investment (desalination plant
considered amortization period is 10 years (Ross et al. 2017). building construction), operation and maintenance (supplies and re-
For the CBA analysis, the alternative “use non-conventional water placement, energy) regarding the second scenario are shown in
from desalination for irrigation” was compared with the “do-nothing” Table 2 (Olivieri et al. 2005; Ahmad and Schmid, 2002).
Estimated final cost (€/m3 ) per 1 ha of extension of cultivated
grapes includes the water cost of mixing desalted water from the RO
Table 3 plant with the groundwater from the wells to obtain the needed salinity
Cost estimation per harvest at Siġġiewi (1 ha). (average 1500 μS/cm). The negative impact of groundwater salinity in
grape production (25% production loss) is considered a negative exter-
Cost estimation
nality and the associated cost of farmer losses is evaluated under the ‘do
Land preparation (€) 500
nothing’ scenario.
Planting work and cultivation (€) 1700
Harvesting (€) 500 For the mixing desalted water scenario to decrease water salinity
Charge for electricity meter (€/year) 360 “use non-conventional waters”, benefits are estimated. Here the benefits
Water consumption cost (€/year) 124a are defined as ‘direct farmer benefits’ in terms of economic revenue or
Total (€) 3184 the yield per hectare obtained, estimated per sale price of 0.29 €/kg
a
Costs have been estimated only based on energy consumption. (2018 data).
738 J. Aparicio et al. / Science of the Total Environment 650 (2019) 734–740

4. CBA results and discussion Table 5

Cost of desalinated groundwater from a RO small desalination plant.

The costs of agricultural management, production from the interna- Fixed costs
tional varieties for both scenarios at the Siġġiewi case study can be Cost of the desalination plant (VAT included, 18%) (€) 29500
found in Table 3. For the vineyard plot characteristics, the reader is re- Number of lifetime years of the investment (years) 15
ferred to Table 1. Interest (%) 18

Variable costs
4.1. Actual total cost and benefit for a vineyard cultivation “do-nothing
option” Maintenance (€/m3 ) 0.06
Replacing membranes (€/m3 ) 0.008
Replacing filter cartridges (€/m3 ) 0.0025
For 2018 and a baseline estimation of 1 ha of irrigated land, direct Chemical products (€/m3 ) 0.029
costs are presented in Table 3. The benefits (Eq. (1)) of Table 4 are ob- Energy cost (€/kWh) 0.20
tained from gross production (kg/ha) and the average price of 0.9 €/kg Total cost without depreciation (€/m3 ) 0.29
(2018 data). It is assumed that the cultivated plot was under full Total cost with depreciation (€/m3 ) 0.35
production.
With regard to the obtained NPV (Eq. (2)) and IRR (Eq. (3)) the pro-
ject is profitable, considering that it has a positive NPV (€ 8148.95) and
an IRR of 6.4%. inadequate water-agriculture project may involve a heavy economic
burden in the case of failure to achieve the intended results. However,
4.2. “Use non-conventional water from desalination” NPV and IRR economic impact studies have not been carried out to assess the sus-
tainability of such measures. Economic feasibility of a project involves
To obtain the adequate salinity for grape irrigation and avoid further the assessment of most suitable solution based ‘on balance’ by consider-
production loses, desalinated water is mixed with groundwater from ing full cost estimation and benefits for each alternative and avoiding
the same well. According to Maas and Hoffman (1977), James et al. the scenario business-as usual.
(1982) and Jackson (2000), the optimum irrigation water quality for This study presents the interest of coupling agricultural-
the vineyard is around 1500 μS/cm. Hence, to reach this quality, 50% of groundwater management (ex-ante) cost-benefit analysis for the alter-
the water from RO must be mixed with 50% of groundwater. native of mixing desalinating water and groundwater to improve water
In this scenario, desalinated water is produced from a RO small plant availability for crops and vine harvest while increasing economic bene-
(120 m3 /day) treating groundwater from the existing well. In this op- fits. The output indicates that the project, based in an already existing
tion, the final price of groundwater for irrigation is previously obtained agricultural land under vine production, is highly profitable from a min-
to get the final mixing price. Calculations consider that the plant is imum area of 1 ha; but the final benefit is highly dependent on the irri-
under operation 360 days/year. The final cost of desalinated water, gated surface extension. For the calculation of the benefits, only the
after considering all the parameters are in Table 5. direct sale of the grapes gross production was taken into account. It
For the investment costs the plant cost is 25,000 € (without VAT) needs to be noticed that new irrigation developments have necessarily
and the applied depreciation rate was 4% for a 15-year life span, a com- to consider the incurred costs of a well drilling, pump purchase, etc.,
mon value for such type of projects (Aparicio et al., 2017). which will finally increase the irrigation water price. A comprehensive
The next step is to estimate the minimum surface area under irriga- economic analysis would also consider the economic benefits of the
tion still being profitable, considering a desalination plant of these final product (wine production); therefore, the farmer benefits would
dimensions and needed water quality for maximum production be higher.
(Table 6). The different NPV and IRR calculations are based on the idea Compared with other types of non-conventional water (e.g. treated
that a small plant must be fully operational and not only to supply the wastewater) desalination was considered the best option in this assess-
water demand of 1 ha. This analysis takes into consideration 25% of pro- ment. As vineyard requires a low amount of irrigation water, the small
duction increase (benefits) that would be gained by irrigating with RO desalination plants available in the market (120 m3 /day) could
water of optimum quality. cover the required quality needs at not such high cost. Considering
From the NPV and IRR sensitivity analysis (Table 6) after considering that plants of 120 m3 /day production are easy to handle and do not re-
different water costs and land irrigated surfaces (ha), a wide range quire very specialized knowledge, farmers can run the utility with min-
of surface areas are possible. Positive values of both parameters imum technical requirements. Other short-term investments linked to
(project feasibility) start from 1 ha cultivated area, however, the water storage, adjustments and transfers appear to be costly and
final price of mixing water is € 9.08. Irrigating a higher areal extension time-consuming for implementation. Brine discharge, elimination of
(3 ha) by sharing the water with other farmers appears to be the waste, environmental pollution etc., not considered in the analysis,
best option. could also directly affect final NPV estimation increasing final costs
and consequently decreasing benefits. Effects on quality and quantity
5. Conclusions of groundwater by climate change (seawater intrusion or water short-
age) and the excessive use of nitrogenous fertilizers in agricultural man-
Water salinity is an important factor for agricultural crop production agement may also require forecasting future climate, from ICCP
and the associated economic output. As quality degradation maybe scenarios, which is not a straightforward process.
evident for a long-time, search for alternative sources of water supply The methodological framework presents a brief overview of an ex-
through technical-projects solutions are generally undertaken in ante economic valuation technique application for ensuring farmers
private business. The risk associated with the development of an profitability while closing the water-agriculture circular economy

Table 4
Gross production of a 1 ha vineyard plot (2018 data).

Crop Vines per hectare Gross production (kg/ha) Gross income (€) total Net benefit/ha (€)

International vineyard 5000 8500 7650 4867

 J. Aparicio et al. / Science of the Total Environment 650 (2019) 734–740 739

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salinity. burg, Virginia.
Giorgi, F., Lionello, P., 2008. Climate change projections for the Mediterranean region.
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Gleeson, T., Wada, Y., Bierkens, M.F.P., van Beek, L.P.H., 2012. Water balance of global
0.5 18.14 −8922.91 −11.3 aquifers revealed by groundwater footprint. Nature 488 (7410), 197–200. https://
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