Loss of Social Welfare Due to Overexploitation of Groundwater in Firozabad Plain

Level of groundwater is decreased which is mainly because, withdrawal of groundwater is increased, because of lack of right management. Economics of rural based farming and farming is dependent of water so decreasing of groundwater effects social welfare. In this study decrease of welfare measure by reason of reduction of groundwater level considered. This study investigated the impact of withdrawal on a measure of social welfare with using econometric model. Production function and social model was estimated. Data were obtained for semi-deep and deep well, so 130 farmers were chosen at 2007-2008 in Firoozabad plain with a random sampling method. Results show that value of marginal product is more than cost of withdrawal of water. Social welfare decrease 924110 and 431210 tomans by decreasing of one meter in level of groundwater for semi-deep and deep well, respectively. The result indicated that loss of social welfare is estimated to be 8.1 and 3.8 tomans per cubic metric reduction in groundwater for semi-deep and deep well, respectively.