Changes in the information environment of water management: the role of ICT

Numerous Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have been developed in irrigated agriculture. While there are studies focusing on ICT impacts at the farm level, no research deal with this issue at the level of Water Authority (WA). With the present study, the authors developed a theoretical framework based on Bayesian decision theory to assess the economic benefits brought by the introduction of ICT. An empirical example is provided with the aim of showing any potentialities and limitation of ICT for the management of water supply networks in agriculture. The adoption of ICT by WA have the capacity to achieve water savings and favor climate change adaptation. Site specific constraints as decisional power, water availability and technical issues do not allow the full exploitation of information services. A sensitivity analysis showed that by improving the quality of information, such constraints can be overcame. Policy remark is to favor ICT development jointly with end users, answering decision maker s information requirements. Acknowledgement :