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The reuse of treated water for agricultural irrigation is considered a promising option in regions facing water scarcity problems and there is an increasing number of reuse projects going on in southern European countries. The aim of this paper is to estimate the non-market benefits that society attaches to the use of reclaimed wastewater for agricultural purposes, as part of the economic assessment needed to evaluate the viability of this water management option. For this purpose, a contingent valuation study has been developed in the Segura River Basin in south-eastern Spain, interviewing 352 individuals from a representative sample of the basin's population. Results show that the use of reclaimed wastewater for irrigation has significant non-market environmental benefits (mean willingness to pay of €5.13 per month per household, which adds up to a total annual value of €23.3 million). In terms of volume, these benefits represent €0.31 m -3 . Therefore, it can be concluded that the non-market benefits of using reclaimed wastewater for agriculture justify its implementation, as they overcome the average treatment costs of €0.16-0.26 m -3 . Additionally, the analysis of preference heterogeneity suggests that the use of reclaimed wastewater in agriculture is more acceptable to people if they are made aware of their current payment for water sanitation. The inclusion of these non-market benefits in the overall assessment of water policy options will lead to better informed and more efficient water management decisions.Additional key words: environmental benefits; irrigation; Segura Basin; Spain; Water Framework Directive. Resumen Valor no de mercado del uso de agua depurada en agricultura: una aproximación por valoración contingenteEl uso de aguas depuradas en la agricultura es considerado una opción prometedora para aquellas zonas que presentan problemas de escasez y de ahí el creciente número de proyectos de reutilización del agua llevados a cabo en los países del sur de Europa. El objetivo de este trabajo es estimar los beneficios no de mercado que la sociedad otorga al uso de aguas depuradas para uso agrícola, como parte de la valoración económica necesaria para conocer la viabilidad de estas opciones de gestión del agua. Para lograr este objetivo se ha realizado un estudio de valoración contingente en la Cuenca del Río Segura, sureste de España, utilizando una muestra representativa de la población de 352 individuos. Los resultados muestran que el uso de agua depurada para regadío genera beneficios ambientales más allá de los beneficios de mercado (disposición a pagar media de 5,13 € por mes y hogar que supondrán 23,3 millones € anuales). En términos de volumen, los beneficios de no mercado relacionados con el uso de las aguas regeneradas en agricultura (0,31 € m -3 ) justifican su implementación al sobrepasar los costes promedio de tratamiento del agua (0,16-0,26 € m -3 ). Además, el análisis de la heterogeneidad de la demanda sugiere que el empleo de estas aguas regeneradas sería socialmente más ace...

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The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) prescribes that all water bodies iti Europe should achieve 'good ecological status' (GES). Maintaining a certain water flow is a pre-condition for the achievement of GES in areas of water scarcity. In such areas, reclaitned waste water is seen as a promising measure to keep river flow at a sufficient level. The cotitingent valuation method is applied here to estimate the non-market environmental benefits of using reclaimed water to maintain river flow levels in the Segura River Basin in south-eastern Spain. The assessment of the economic benefits of specific measures gives policy makers more information than a cost-effectivetiess analysis alone, which is currently the most commonly used tool to assess potential measures under the WED. The results show that the implementation of this measure produces significant non-market benefits that are larger than the investment and operational costs of reclaimed water treatment plants.