Groundwater Rights Research Articles

Can a Water Bank Improve Groundwater Rights Market Efficiency?—A Study Based on Monte Carlo Simulations

Groundwater possesses a natural advantage as a reservoir, making it well-suited for storage. Introducing a water bank to the groundwater market not only reduces storage costs but also revitalizes the groundwater rights market, achieving synergy between the economic and ecological values of regional water resources. This study combines the core functions of a water bank to establish a theoretical framework for mechanisms concerning value appreciation and risk prevention. Approaching the topic from the perspectives of transaction costs and market price mechanisms, we employ the Monte Carlo algorithm for simulation to study the mechanistic impact of a water bank on the efficiency of the water market. It reveals that a water bank, compared to direct transactions between parties, can effectively reduce the number of transactions in the fragmented water rights market. Additionally, it effectively utilizes market transaction information to provide accurate pricing. Furthermore, we alter model parameters to explore the relationship between the average number of transactions in the market and supply–demand equilibrium. We also investigate how changes in the acceptable price range in the supply–demand market affect the pricing strategies of a water bank and open market pricing. These findings substantiate the necessity of developing a water bank in practice.

The alarming state of Central Chile's groundwater resources: A paradigmatic case of a lasting overexploitation

Ensuring water supply under climate change scenarios is a global concern, and groundwater resources play a crucial role. Aquifer depletion is a worldwide trend, and Chile is no exception. Through a statistical approach with strong hydrogeological criteria, the groundwater overexploitation phenomenon is studied in Central Chile, the most populated region in this mountainous country. With this purpose, we assess the evolution of groundwater levels and pumping between 1970 and 2020 by analysing 26,065 groundwater rights and 222 observation wells. Withdrawals increased from 498 hm3 in 1970 to 8883 hm3 in 2020. We recognised two general trends in groundwater levels: a quasi-steady state hydrodynamic regime pre-1988 and sustained decline post-1988, exacerbated since 2010 with the start of the Megadrought. Although groundwater recharge is expected to decrease during this severe drought, the declining trend strongly correlates with pumping but not with precipitation changes. Climate forcing is usually invoked to warrant the dramatic depletion of groundwater resources, but we demonstrated that all analysed aquifers have been overexploited since much earlier than 2010. Finally, the Chilean aquifers' overexploitation is a clear example of the consequences of prioritising the water offer over the water demand regulation, which hinders the United Nations' sustainable development goals accomplishment.

The vulnerability of springs and phreatophyte communities to groundwater level declines in Oregon and Nevada, 2002–2021

Increased groundwater demand is causing aquifer declines that impact viability of groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) like springs and phreatophyte communities. To understand which springs and phreatophyte communities may be stressed by groundwater level declines in Oregon and Nevada, we assessed groundwater level trends in nearby monitoring wells. Very few springs and phreatophyte communities were near monitoring wells with adequate data. Less than 1% of >50,000 springs in Nevada and Oregon were within 800 m of analyzed wells, and only 52 springs were near a shallow (<30 m below ground surface) well. Among springs near analyzed wells, 56% in Nevada and 29% in Oregon were near wells with declining groundwater level trends, and percentages were similar among springs that were within 800 m of analyzed shallow wells. Less than 22% of all phreatophyte communities in Nevada and Oregon were near analyzed wells, and only 9.6% were within 800 m of a shallow well. Of phreatophyte communities near analyzed wells, 48% and 57% were near wells with declining trends in Nevada and Oregon, respectively. Differences among GDE types could reflect more groundwater development where phreatophytes exist. Differences between states in proportion of springs near wells with declining trends could be due to more surface water capture in Oregon or increased pressure for groundwater development in Nevada. State-specific policies and administration of groundwater rights and monitoring affect data availability and trends observed in the two states. More groundwater level data are essential for understanding impacts of groundwater withdrawals to GDEs.

Groundwater management in India's Punjab and Haryana: a case of too little and too late?

The North Indian states of Punjab and Haryana (P&H) are a part of the water-rich Indo-Gangetic river basin. Despite this abundance, both states are on the cusp of a severe water crisis due to groundwater over-extraction. The proliferation of tubewells to support irrigation is responsible for more than 90 per cent of the groundwater extraction in both states. What started as a boon during the Green Revolution has given rise to a host of socio-economic and environmental issues. Overexploitation of groundwater is not a simple problem that the laws can quickly fix. In 2020, both P&H passed legislation to manage their water, including groundwater; however, these legal responses are far from what is required. This article examines the law on groundwater in P&H, focusing on the fallouts of silo-based decision-making where the different facets of water management are left to various authorities resulting in working at cross-purposes and inefficient decision-making. We argue that there is an urgent need to (1) delink groundwater rights from land rights and (2) adopt an integrated resource management strategy if P&H are to utilise their groundwater sustainably.

Do Environmental Markets Improve on Open Access? Evidence from California Groundwater Rights

Environmental markets are widely prescribed as an alternative to open-access regimes for natural resources. We develop a model of dynamic groundwater extraction to demonstrate how a spatial regression discontinuity design that exploits a spatially-incomplete market for groundwater rights recovers a lower bound on the market’s net benefit. We apply this estimator to a major aquifer in water-scarce southern California and find that a groundwater market generated substantial net benefits, as capitalized in land values. Heterogeneity analyses point to gains arising in part from rights trading, enabling more efficient water use across sectors. Additional findings suggest the market increased groundwater levels.

Integrated Hydrology and Operations Modeling to Evaluate Climate Change Impacts in an Agricultural Valley Irrigated With Snowmelt Runoff

AbstractApplying models to developed agricultural regions remains a difficult problem because there are no existing modeling codes that represent both the complex physics of the hydrology and anthropogenic manipulations to water distribution and consumption. We apply an integrated groundwater – surface water and hydrologic river operations model to an irrigated river valley in northwestern Nevada/northern California, United States to evaluate the impacts of climate change on snow‐fed agricultural systems that use surface water and groundwater conjunctively. We explicitly represent individual surface water rights within the hydrologic model and allow the integrated code to change river diversions in response to earlier snowmelt runoff and water availability. Historically under‐used supplemental groundwater rights are dynamically activated within the model to offset diminished surface water deliveries. The model accounts for feedbacks between the natural hydrology and anthropogenic stresses, which is a first‐of‐its‐kind assessment of the impacts of climate change on individual water rights, and more broadly on river basin operations. Earlier snowmelt decreases annual surface water deliveries to all water rights, not just the junior water rights, owing to a lack of surface water storage in the upper river basin capable of capturing earlier runoff. Conversely, downstream irrigators with access to reservoir storage benefit from earlier runoff flowing past upstream points of diversion prior to the start of the irrigation season. Despite regional shifts toward greater reliance on groundwater for irrigation, crop consumption (a common surrogate for crop yield) decreases due to spatiotemporal changes in water supply that preferentially impact a subset of growers in the region.

Transitioning out of Open Access: A Closer Look at Institutions for Management of Groundwater Rights in France, California, and Spain

AbstractMany regions around the world are transitioning out of open access to groundwater resources in order to tackle over extraction by irrigated agriculture. However, the state has limited capacities to regulate effectively agricultural groundwater use. This paper evaluates how users and public authorities can co‐manage groundwater extraction by agriculture. Based on Schlager and Ostrom’s “bundle of rights” framework, the paper examines how decisions over access and use of groundwater resources are made in France, Spain and California. The three cases share a common strive to involve groundwater users in decisions over how to reduce over extraction of groundwater resources. However, different choices were made regarding the institutional set‐up for user involvement in allocation decisions. The paper presents the diversity of institutional arrangements influencing groundwater allocations in the three cases, and the relative involvement and power of users and public authorities over these institutions. The papers show the different ways in which “comanagement” may be made operational for managing agricultural groundwater use.

Impacts of Urbanization and Intensification of Agriculture on Transboundary Aquifers: A Case Study

AbstractThe objectives were to (1) delineate the complex set of rules governing the fate and transfer of water rights as agricultural land is urbanized in Texas and New Mexico in the United States and Chihuahua in Mexico and (2) estimate the change in water use as a result of such urbanization. Important additional determinants of water use in the region include intensification of agriculture and the hydroschizophrenic policy framework. We conducted interviews with key informants to identify the possible outcomes for changes in water rights as land is urbanized. We constructed decision trees for each of the three jurisdictions, Chihuahua, Texas, and New Mexico, that identified the possible outcomes from urbanization. For each of the possible outcomes in the decision tree, we estimated a range of potential water use outcomes and the most likely water use outcome on a per unit of land area basis. Results show that urbanization of agricultural land has almost no impact on the aggregate demand for or use of surface water. However, the impacts of urbanization on groundwater use vary considerably over the region from Texas to New Mexico to Chihuahua. In New Mexico and Chihuahua where groundwater rights can be leased or sold to other users, the likely impact is a net increase in groundwater use as land is urbanized, ranging from 0 to 3,000 m3/ha in New Mexico and averaging 3,000 m3/ha or more in Chihuahua. In Texas, there is a net benefit in groundwater savings, but those savings are subject to being offset by increased groundwater pumping to meet the needs of expanding pecan production. The net result is continued groundwater depletion, threatening the life of the transboundary aquifers, the Hueco Bolson and the Mesilla Bolson, in the Middle Rio Grande basin (defined as the part of the basin between Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico to the confluence of the river with the Rio Conchos from Mexico).

Lessons to Be Learned: Groundwater Depletion in Chile’s Ligua and Petorca Watersheds through an Interdisciplinary Approach

Groundwater (GW) is the primary source of unfrozen freshwater on the planet and in many semi-arid areas, it is the only source of water available during low-water periods. In north-central Chile, there has been GW depletion as a result of semi-arid conditions and high water demand, which has unleashed major social conflicts, some due to drought and others due to agribusiness practices against the backdrop of a private water management model. The Ligua and Petorca watersheds in the Valparaíso Region were studied in order to analyze the influence of climatic and anthropogenic factors on aquifer depletion using an interdisciplinary approach that integrates hydroclimatic variables, remote sensing data techniques, and GW rights data to promote sustainable GW management. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were calculated and the 2002–2017 land-use change was analyzed. It was shown that GW decreased significantly (in 75% of the wells) and that the hydrological drought was moderate and prolonged (longest drought in the last 36 years). The avocado-growing area in Ligua increased significantly—by 2623 ha—with respect to other agricultural areas (higher GW decrease), while in Petorca, it decreased by 128 ha. In addition, GW-rainfall correlations were low and GW rights were granted continuously despite the drought. The results confirmed that aquifer depletion was mostly influenced by human factors due to overexploitation by agriculture and a lack of water management.

Beneath the surface: complexities and groundwater policy-making

AbstractGroundwater depletion is a worldwide phenomenon that has prompted calls for improved policy and management. A prominent policy recommendation, especially among economists, is the establishment of well-defined transferable groundwater rights and the promotion of water transfers or markets. Modelled effects and actual results in limited sites show promising potential, but progress has been slow, even in areas of significant need and capacity such as the western United States. This article identifies some of the complexities associated with defining groundwater rights and with managing groundwater aquifers. Those complexities may account to some degree for the incremental and limited progress toward transferable rights. Recent groundwater policy developments in California and other western states are reviewed briefly in light of those complexities.

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and the Common Law of Groundwater Rights—Finding a Consistent Path Forward for Groundwater Allocation

Author(s): Garner, Eric; McGlothlin, Russell; Szeptycki, Leon; Babbitt, Christina; Kincaid, Valerie | Abstract: In 2014, the California State Legislature enacted the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which requires the formation of new local agencies, known as Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs), to sustainably manage groundwater basins throughout the state. The statute represents the first statewide framework for groundwater management in California. Among other tasks, GSAs, especially those in overdrafted basins, will have to allocate available water among users and set up systems to hold pumpers to their allocated limit. However, SGMA did not change the longstanding framework of groundwater pumping rights established by California courts. This sets up the possibility of conflict between groundwater allocation plans adopted by GSAs and water rights.This Article analyzes the relationship between SGMA and water rights under the common law. It identifies a path for GSAs to allocate groundwater and limit pumping in a manner best situated to sustain judicial scrutiny. We examine how the common law defines water right priorities for groundwater pumping allocations, as well as areas where the common law provides flexibility. This flexibility allows for creativity in arriving at allocations that fit stakeholders’ goals for both sustainable and smart water management. We seek to help GSAs reduce the risk of litigation and increase the likelihood their Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) will survive litigation, without judicial modification. There are considerable measures GSAs can take to manage their litigation risk and enhance the durability of their GSPs, including making groundwater allocations in their GSPs consistent with the principles of water rights and seeking consensus among affected stakeholders. We also seek to provide a framework for courts to work out the appropriate relationship between SGMA and the common law of water rights when litigation occurs.

An evaluation of groundwater institutions in India: a property rights perspective

Groundwater governance has become an intractable policy issue, which has many implications for the living standards and well-being of millions of rural poor in South Asia. Groundwater governance is complex as it is influenced by various hydrogeological, sociopolitical and socioeconomic factors. Unregulated groundwater extraction rates in South Asia have depleted the aquifers causing a raft of socioeconomic, environmental and human health problems. This paper analyzes de facto rights in groundwater markets and other emerging ‘groundwater-sharing institutional arrangements’ in India. Using a multi-dimensional property rights model, the paper decomposes de facto groundwater rights while drawing insights and broad policy lessons. The findings indicate that there is much scope for enhancing the ‘small group groundwater sharing’ governed by social regulatory measures. Moreover, distortionary subsidies for agriculture in general and groundwater development, in particular, have had an adverse impact of the resource use and merit further attention.

A Pricing Model for Groundwater Rights in Ningxia, China Based on the Fuzzy Mathematical Model.

To reduce groundwater overexploitation and alleviate water shortages, market mechanisms are introduced to allocate water rights. Scientific and reasonable pricing of groundwater rights is key to ensuring the effectiveness of the groundwater market. Because of the complexity and uncertainty of water resources, this study calculates the price of groundwater rights based on the value of water resources with an evaluation indicator system. The system includes 14 indicators developed with a fuzzy mathematics model addressing three dimensions: environment, society, and economy. The weights of the indicators are determined through the analytic network process (ANP) and the entropy method. The results show that the price of groundwater rights in Ningxia, China increased from 5.11 yuan/m3 to 5.73 yuan/m3 between 2013 and 2017; this means the price was basically stable, with a slight increase. The ratio of residents’ water fee expenditures to real disposable income also remained essentially stable, fluctuating around 0.37%, far below the normal level. These data demonstrated that the current regional water price policy does not reflect the true value of groundwater resources; there is room to increase urban water prices. Local governments need speed up water price system reforms and adopt water rights systems to optimize water resource allocations.

Federal reserved rights and California's Groundwater Management Act: resolving groundwater rights tensions in California and the western United States

ABSTRACTCalifornia introduced its first comprehensive groundwater legislation (the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act) in 2014 to address the overuse of the state’s groundwater resources and to establish a pathway for sustainable groundwater use. However, a recent decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declaring the existence of federal reserved rights to groundwater could complicate the future implementation of California’s new groundwater legislation. This article explores the impact of the case and offers recommendations on how the tensions between the court’s decision and the existing legal framework for groundwater management in California could be reduced.

Water data and the legitimacy deficit: a regulatory review and nationwide survey of challenges considering cumulative environmental effects of coal and coal seam gas developments

ABSTRACTEnvironmental water management in relation to groundwater occurs mainly by controlling groundwater withdrawals under water and environmental assessments and approvals, rather than by actively managing groundwater rights for environmental purposes. Despite apparently close regulation of coal mining and coal seam gas developments, significant public concerns remain regarding the assessment and approval processes that seek to control their cumulative effects on groundwater-dependent ecosystems. This paper analyses a key element of concern: regulatory aspects of water data relevant to assessments and approvals. It outlines a three-part framework for considering requirements for water information in the regulatory context. It then analyses Australian federal legal requirements in relation to water information and data from a new nationwide, exploratory survey of groundwater professionals. Both suggest improved legal measures are required to govern the nature of groundwater data that is produced by governments and proponents, and how and when it is produced.

The Role of Peer Effects in Natural Resource Appropriation – The Case of Groundwater

AbstractSpatially mediated peer effects are increasingly recognized as an important driver of technology adoption. In this paper, we isolate the role of peer effects from environmental factors in the acquisition of groundwater rights for agricultural irrigation in Kansas. We find strong evidence of peer effects influencing farmers’ decisions to adopt groundwater irrigation. Using a rich dataset on groundwater rights for the period 1943–2014 and a nearest neighbor peer group definition, we find that one additional neighbor adopting groundwater for irrigation increases groundwater adoption by an average of 0.25 percentage points. We also find that the average marginal effect of one additional peer is reduced by distance and diminishes as the total number of neighbors adopting groundwater increases. Using our model estimates to simulate a counterfactual without peer effects, we find that water rights appropriation stemming from peer effects accounted for about 11 million acre‐feet of extraction from the Kansas High Plains Aquifer. This amounts to about three years of typical annual extraction. Our results provide evidence that peer effects can “speed up” resource extraction and can help inform policy makers in designing exploitation control rules.

Water buybacks to recover depleted aquifers in south-east Spain

ABSTRACTThis article assesses the economic impact of implementing a public buyback of groundwater rights to eliminate non-renewable pumping in the Murcia Plateau of the Spanish Segura basin, home of some of the most depleted aquifers in Europe. We find that, regardless of the policy instrument applied, stopping non-renewable extraction would severely hit the agricultural sector. The buyback of rights would not prevent this impact but the cost of reducing extraction would be borne by the government instead of farmers, making it a potentially more successful alternative. However, the estimated cost for the public budget is very large and probably unaffordable.

The economic value of local water supplies in Los Angeles

Los Angeles imports water over long distances to supplement local supplies. Reduced reliability of the available imports is driving many local agencies to promote conservation and enhance local water sources. These include stormwater capture, water reuse and groundwater. But financial considerations are often a significant impediment to project development, especially when comparing new and existing sources. Here we demonstrate a comprehensive approach for evaluating the economic implications of shifting to local water reliance in Los Angeles County. We show that local water supplies are economically competitive. Results from integrated hydroeconomic modelling of urban water in Los Angeles identify cost-effective water supply portfolios and conservation targets. Considering costs across the ‘full-cycles’ of urban water supply that span agency boundaries yields better comparisons of planning alternatives. Throughout the region, many water retailers could successfully mitigate effects of imported water cuts while still supporting drought-tolerant landscapes, but some would suffer due to over-reliance on imports. Updating economic assessment methods would support needed innovations to achieve local reliance in Los Angeles, including infrastructure investments, institutional reforms, many more drought-tolerant landscapes and reallocated groundwater rights. A large-scale economic analysis of the economics of water supplies in the greater Los Angeles area, based on the ‘full-cycle’ costs of water sources such as imported water, groundwater, and reused and storm-water capture. The study showcases an updated model and framework for urban water studies that can be applied to other cities.

How are Western water districts managing groundwater basins?

Making the transition from open-access groundwater rights to sustainable groundwater management is a formidable task for newly formed groundwater sustainability agencies in California. As agencies begin to decide how to make equitable water allocations, how to monitor groundwater use and what mix of supply- and demand-side mechanisms to adopt to satisfy sustainability criteria, the groundwater management strategies in place across other basins in the western United States are worth studying. We surveyed 18 groundwater districts in California and other Western states to identify the management approaches and practices they have instituted. The conclusions we draw suggest a correlative rights framework of water allocation with phase-ins for heavy users; metered pumping; flexible arrangements for trading and carrying over allocations for multiple years; and incentivizing groundwater recharge, including recharge from deep percolation from crops. Rigid formulas for significantly reducing groundwater use in medium- and high-priority basins are likely to have significant negative effects on the regional economy.

Combining economic policy instruments with desalinisation to reduce overdraft in the Spanish Alto Guadalentín aquifer

This paper analyses the cost-effectiveness of combining several economic policy instruments to address the problem of non-renewable pumping in the Alto Guadalentín aquifer in southeastern Spain, one of the most extreme cases of aquifer depletion in Europe. Our results show that all instruments have significant economic impacts. However, the future availability of desalinisation would notably mitigate these impacts, as farmers can substitute groundwater with desalinised water. Although a complete ban on non-renewable pumping and an environmental tax on withdrawals imply the lowest level of public expenditure, they are very unpopular and have a large political cost. The buyback of groundwater rights and the subsidisation of desalinisation in exchange for reducing withdrawals are likely to be much better received by farmers, as their cost would be charged to the public budget. A combination of instruments would split the cost of aquifer recovery between farmers and the administration and would therefore possibly not meet with as much opposition from stakeholders.