Some Aspects of River Utilization in Arid Areas:.

This article presents information related to some aspects of river utilization in arid areas. Hydroeconomics is the economics of water supply and concerns itself with the economic patterns surrounding competition for the most basic natural resource. Unlike the economics of other mineral resources, such as petroleum and coal, iron and other ores, water has but recently become the object of concerted attention by economists and other social scientists. The world, with its growing population and its general surge toward economic development, is rapidly attaining its water frontier-the point at which only marginal resources of water remain available and unappropriated. With water and scientific agriculture, marginal lands can be coaxed to yield economically advantageous food supplies. Improvements in hydro-technical methods may rationalize water utilization to make the most of available water; but no economic process has yet been found to extend the water frontier, although optimistic reports indicate that research now under way may lead to the economical development of "artificial water" processes.