Abstract
Georgia’s Flint River Basin has water management challenges from extensive groundwater pumping for agriculture and in-stream flow requirements. The state has experimented with buying out irrigation permits through auctions. Past auctions were relegated to surface water permits. Recently, the state has allowed groundwater permit holders to participate in future auctions. The Flow-Impact Offer (FIO) developed in this paper provides a way to reconcile the disparate impacts of groundwater and surface water withdrawals on in-stream flows when comparing offers in a buyout auction. The techniques suggested here to operationalize the FIO are applicable to other regions of the world as well.
Highlights
Georgia’s Flint River Basin (FRB) has received particular attention regarding stream flow regulation because of its vast reaches, unique aquifer system, and varied uses
I propose utilizing the flux-to-withdrawal ratio associated with the location of a groundwater permit to inflate offers from groundwater permit holders in future auctions, creating a “flow-impact offer” that can be compared across groundwater and surface water permits
At a particular permit location, stream flows are expected to be reduced by only half the volume of a groundwater withdrawal, for a given offer ($/acre-inch), the flow you are purchasing by preventing that withdrawal is twice as expensive as the flow purchased by preventing a surface water withdrawal
Summary
Georgia’s Flint River Basin (FRB) has received particular attention regarding stream flow regulation because of its vast reaches, unique aquifer system, and varied uses. The 2002 drought protection auction removed more than 41,000 acres from irrigation at a cost of $5.3 million. Many participants were compensated “for very marginal or long-fallow land, or for land that is not typically irrigated (e.g., trees)”, a loophole that was closed for the second auction by mandating participating permit holders to have irrigated in the previous three years [16] Still, both auctions failed to remove the highest water use cropland from irrigation and excluded all holders of groundwater permits from participating; if a drought protection auction was held in 2019 under these rules, nearly 50% of permit holders and over 1,000,000 irrigated acres would be excluded from participation. While data are not currently available to parameterize the proposed mechanism, the framework presented here should facilitate a discussion on how to collect and compile relevant data to do so in the Flint River Basin and other watersheds around the world
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
