The Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) establishes the key principles for all uses of water resources: 1) fullcost recovery for water service provision, 2) an incentive-based pricing structure to convey price signals to users, and 3)the “polluter pays” principle. This position paper monitors the application of the key principle of incentive-based pricingin the Italian agricultural sector. The evidence brings new insights on the most effective methods for defining the structureof irrigation fees and suggests that European Institutions launch an extensive monitoring of pricing systems applied toagricultural water use for a comparative assessment. Given the strategic importance for irrigation for food security, climateadaptation, and water resilience, a structured research initiative at European scale could meaningfully contribute to theCommission’s ongoing work on strengthening the economic, environmental and governance pillars of EU water policy.
Guerrini et al. (Sat,) studied this question.