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Abstract
Increased pressure on water resources has led many countries to reconsider the
mechanisms used in the induction of efficient water use, especially for irrigated agriculture,
a major consumer of water. Establishing the correct price of water is one of the mechanisms
for more efficient allocation of water. This paper aims to analyze the economic, social and essenenvironmental
impacts of water price policies. The methodology used is the linear programming, applied to the
Irrigated Valley Caxito, in Bengo Province, 45 kilometers from Luanda, which has the river Dande as its source.
Three scenarios concerning water price policies were tested: simple volumetric rate, variable volumetric rate and flat
rate per surface. The main findings show that from the point of view of the efficient use of water in agriculture, the
best results are obtained with variable volumetric rate; from the social point of view, the simple volumetric rate has
the best results; the volume variable rate method proved to be the most penalizing, quickly reducing the area of most
water consuming cultures, being the method in which the environmental objectives would be more readily achieved.
Either methods bring negative aspects in relation to the reduction of total gross margin.