Research on Economic Bearing Capacity of Farmers to Agricultural Irrigation Water Prices in the Ebinur Lake Basin

The Ebinur Lake Basin is one of the few lakes in the arid area of northwest China where water shortages have always been an important factor hindering development. Therefore, this study takes as its objective an investigation of water prices as the main economic factor that restricts the sustainable utilization of water resources to explore the economic affordability of water prices for farmers. Furthermore, the study attempts to determine the appropriate range of prices for water price reform. In this study, a questionnaire was designed to survey 210 agricultural water users in Wenquan County, Bole City, and Jinghe County, areas where agricultural activities are relatively concentrated in the vicinity of the Ebinur Lake Basin. Based on the data from the field survey, the range of economic affordability for farmers in the Ebinur Lake Basin was categorized by the ELES model; according to the analysis method of water tolerability index, a suitable water price standard for farmers’ reform was obtained. The results show that (1) 97% of the farm households have the ability to pay irrigation water prices and only 3% do not have the ability to pay and (2) economically affordable water prices for farm households range from 79 to 143 €/hm2, the latitude for raising water prices is 64 €/hm2, and the adjustable range of unit water pricing is between 0.014 and 0.042 €/m3. It can be seen that increasing water prices is feasible.