Uses and Economic Value of Water in Italy: Evidence from Selected Case Studies in Italy, with a Particu-lar Focus on Irrigation, Industry and Hydropower

This chapter will outline the patterns of water use in the different sectors in parallel with the different in-stitutional and organizational settings that characterizes each management system. Collective systems of different kinds (for household supply and sanitation, for irrigation and drainage, for industry and hydro-power) compete with widespread self-supply in the same sectors, with a clearly path-dependent evolu-tion. Recent studies aimed at characterizing economic willingness to pay for water services will be re-viewed. Economic efficiency of the actual patterns of water allocation will be discussed. Environmental costs and benefits (positive and negative externalities) associated to water use and water management systems will also be analyzed particularly considering irrigation, hydropower and artificial regulation of big lakes.