THE FIRST effort by the New Zealand's government to set a value on the country's water supplies show that water used for agricultural irrigation is worth nearly NZ$1B (US$705M) a year. The first Water Monetary Stock Report, released by Statistics New Zealand, shows a value of NZ$1.4B (US$987M) for fresh water in the year to June 2003, including water used for irrigation, community water supplies and hydroelectricity generation, and excludes benefits from fishing, boating and tourism.
