Investigating the effect of electricity pricing on water resources crisis in Fars province

Too much extraction from natural resources, such as extraction of surface water and groundwater, means the loss of a country's natural capital. Fars province is facing the effects of the water crisis, such as the drying up of lakes (Lake Parishan, Bakhtegan and Tashk), land subsidence and the deficit of groundwater reservoirs. This descriptive-analytical study seeks to answer the question of what is the relationship between electricity tariffs in agriculture and the formation of the water crisis? The goals of the development programs in the agricultural sector have been to achieve self-sufficiency in agricultural products, to rely on the export of agricultural products and to ensure the country's food security. On the other hand, one of the effective variables in increasing or decreasing the amount of abstraction from groundwater is the tariffs related to electricity consumption as one of the production inputs in the agricultural sector. Relying on statistical data on electricity consumption in the agricultural sector, first the prices of electricity consumed in agriculture were adjusted based on the consumer index to eliminate the effects of inflation on electricity prices. Then it was observed that with the decrease of groundwater level in different plains of Fars province, electricity prices or in other words the costs of groundwater extraction have sharply decreased. In other words, one of the most important factors in the uncontrolled extraction of groundwater and reducing the level of these waters has been the reduction of electricity prices and other energies required for water extraction. Because groundwater extraction is inversely related to extraction costs, and in order to achieve sustainable development goals, realizing tariffs on production inputs can be effective in reducing groundwater abstraction.