Demand for water resources information: a conceptual framework and empirical investigation

This study develops and presents a conceptual framework which builds upon and extends the economics of information literature. Combining observations which emerge from a review of literature concerning organizational decision processes, this framework considers the nature of the demand and value for water resource information by individuals who participate in the decision making process found within public water management organizations. Based upon this conceptual framework the paper reports the results of an empirical model relating decision participant use of the Water Resource Council' s Second National Water Assessment and hypothetical expenditures on "national assessment type information" to personal and agency characteristics in two water basin management situations; instream versus offstream water use competition in the Missouri River basin, and low freshwater inflows to Chesapeake Bay. In addition, results of a contingent ranking investigation designed to estimate marginal water information values are presented and the potential use of the contingent ranking method by agencies in water data collection discussed.

Results of the investigations indicate that previous use of specific water information products and the level of expenditures made on certain types of water information are influenced by personal and organizational characteristics. Consequently, there can exist no "correct" information system and thus no "correct" data collection plan in the absence of knowledge concerning information value. Moreover, results indicate that contingent ranking procedures involving items of information may be successfully conducted in a mail survey format and that the information value estimates derived through this technique can be employed to promote greater efficiency in water data investment.