Water shortage has been a significant issue for several decades in the Texas High Plains. Agriculture has been identified as the main activity contributing to this shortage. To address this issue, many efforts have been focused on the possible adoption of sophisticated irrigation systems with hig... Read More
Water use in the West is changing, and nowhere is that being felt as acutely as the Imperial Irrigation District, a 450,000-acre, 12-month growing season district in Southern California where longstanding agricultural water users are under intense pressure to transfer water to the region's ever-t... Read More
Managing drought in agriculture has taken on growing importance as population growth and environmental concerns place increasing pressures on agricultural water use. One alternative for agricultural water resource management in areas of recurrent drought is allocation through market mechanisms. W... Read More
Many development agencies and other actors are advocating that China adopt a system of water markets or of high water prices in order to resolve the inefficiencies of irrigation agriculture and to supply sufficient water for growing urban and industrial uses. We argue that this proposal rests on ... Read More
We analyse supply, demand, and welfare measures in markets where the temporary trading of water rights is reasonably active and liquid on a weekly basis. We identify four important characteristics of water trading within the Watermove program: (1) demand is highly responsive to price changes, sup... Read More
The four papers presented at this invited session examine various ways that economic analysis can be used to examine issues of water conservation strategies and policies. Three of the four are focused on water issues in Texas, and one examines a private insurance contract scheme for irrigation sc... Read More
Due to the scarcity of the water resources in the Rio Grande/Bravo basin, alternative water management policies or "Scenarios" have been evaluated to determine their hydrologic feasibility and the individual or joint benefits to water users in the basin. The policies evaluated are proposals of st... Read More
A static computable general equilibrium model of South Africa is adapted to compare new taxes on water demand by two industries, namely forestry, and irrigated field crops. Comparisons are made with respect to both the short and the long run, in terms of three target variables, namely (i) the env... Read More
Agricultural water use is becoming an issue in much of the South due to population growth. Results of projects evaluating the impacts of conservation strategies aimed at reallocating or extending the life of water supplies are being met with great skepticism by stakeholder groups. In order to gai... Read More
Irrigation activity in Alberta accounts for 71% of consumptive use of surface water in the province. Pressures on water resources are acute and are expected to intensify. Alberta's answer to its water problems is contained in the Water for Life strategy which aims for a 30% increase in water use ... Read More
