| Title |
Investigators | Department | Objectives | Approach Keywords | Progress Reports | Impact Statements | Publications | |
Project * COL00211A(See Project History for COL00211) |
|
| Title | Interfacing Technological, Economic, and Institutional Principles for Managing Inter-sector Mobilization of Water |
| Investigator(s) | Loomis, JB; |
| Department | Agricultural and Resource Economics |
| Objectives | 2) Quantify comparative economic values of water in alternative uses. 3) Assess the effectiveness of alternative management institutions, laws, and policies for water allocation |
| Approach | The relative economic value of water in competing uses as well as the cost-effectiveness of alternative water management policies will be assessed using regional and basin-scale economic models. These models will be built using dynamic optimization techniques and will integrate primary survey data in the design of production and technology choice functions where appropriate. Results from these economic models will be integrated with regional impact models to assess the off-farm effects of alternative water management programs. |
| Keywords | Water, Economics, Irrigation, Agriculture, Irrigation Technology Choice, Drought Management |
| Progress Reports | |
| 2005 | Research this year focused on two main areas of the project, both tied to adoption of alternative irrigation systems. One direction of the research focused on cost barriers to adoption of alternative irrigation systems as a means of reducing irrigation diversions, increasing instream flows, and improving water quality. The second research direction focused on the decision to adopt less water-intensive irrigatin systems in rsponse to drought. Both areas of research found that institutional structures in Colorado limit the incentive to adopt less water intensive irrigation systems relative to experience in other states and that adoption of such systems may require significant use of cost sharing programs. The majority of irrigation water in California is provided to irrigators through public irrigation districts that sell water to irrigators under service contracts. Irrigators in Colorado typically hold fractions of water rights through membership in privately-held irrigation associations. This leads to greater flexibility in water purchase decisions, but less stability in access to water for irrigators in California relative to Colorado, while the reverse is true in Colorado. |
| 2006 | Research this year focused on three areas: a. institutional and non-price water management policies (Schuck, et al. 2006) to encourage adoption of alternative irrigation systems as a means of reducing irrigation induced waterlogging, soil salinity and selenium pollution, with particular emphasis in Arkansas Basin and San Luis Valley. Since selenium does not directly affect crop yield, the study focuses on the type and level of incentives that could be given to farmers to increase irrigation efficiency on farms in the Uncompahgre Valley, as a primary method of selenium and salinity remediation. Research found that institutional structures in Colorado limits the incentives for farmers to adopt less water intensive irrigation systems. Thus, adoption of such systems in Colorado may require significant use of cost sharing programs. The type and amount of cost share was estimated in Clements (2006). Regional economic analyses show relatively large regional benefits associated with the government purchase of more efficient irrigation technology for farms within the San Luis Valley (Clements, 2006). b. Statistical estimation was performed to provide an aggregate river basin water demand model across competing water users in the Gunnison River Basin. c. A meta analysis was published on the price responsiveness of irrigation water diversion demand in the western U.S. A statistical synthesis of 24 studies yielded a price elasticity of .48, and the long run elasticity for water planning purposes is likely even more responsive. This suggests that in the western U.S. there is some degree of price responsiveness in both the short run and the long run in irrigation water diversion, and hence price can be used in conjunction with other policy tools to reduce irrigation water diversions. |
| Impact | |
| 2005 | The severe drought of 2002 in Colorado promoted adoption of less water intensive irrigation systems. As a result of the drought, acreage irrigated by flood irrigation systems dropped by approximately 20% for those who changed irrigation systems in response to drought while land irrigated by sprinkler systems rose by approximately 10% for those who changed systems in response to drought. |
| 2006 | The results of the research on salinity and selenium have been disseminated to water managers through the Colorado State University Water Center. The information on water demand in the Gunnison River Basin was requested by the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and provided to that agency for its use in water modeling and watershed analyses. The results of the meta analysis on price responsiveness has been published in a journal read by water resource management agencies such as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and may aid in their use of water pricing through annual contracts as a tool to reduce short run water diversions in response to drought, and long run water diversions associated with planning new water projects . |
| Publications | |
| 2005 |
Houk, E., Frasier, W.M., and Schuck, E. 2005. Evaluating the Adoption of Higher Efficiency Irrigation Systems in the Presence of Salinization and Waterlogging. Global Business and Economics Review. Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 343-352. Schuck, E.C., Frasier, W. M., Webb, R.S., Ellingson, L.J. and Umberger, W.J. 2005. Adoption of More Technically Efficient Irrigation Systems as a Drought Response. International Journal of Water Resource Development. Volume 21, no. 4, pp. 651-662. |
| 2006 |
Schuck, E., Proft, R. and Waskom, R. 2006. Evaluating Non-Price Water Demand Policies During Severe Droughts. Current Agricultural, Food and Resource Issues. 7:44-55. Clements, J. 2006. Selenium Remediation and Factors Influencing Water Use In The Gunnison River Basin. M.S. Thesis. Dept. of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado. Houk, E., Frasier, M. and Schuck, E. 2006. The Agricultural Impacts of Irrigation Induced Waterlogging and Soil Salinity in the Arkansas Basin. Agricultural Water Management. 85: 175-183. Scheierling, S., Loomis, J. and Young, R. 2006. Irrigation Water Demand: A Meta-Analysis of Price Elasticities. Water Resources Research, 42:W01411: 1-9. |