Design and implementation of markets for groundwater pumping rights

Nicholas Brozović, Richael Young

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Groundwater is an important resource for agricultural and urban water users. In a number of regions around the world, there is rapid change in water management institutions as a result of the impacts of groundwater use on neighboring wells, streams, and groundwater-dependent ecosystems. Increasingly, regulations are based on quantification, monitoring, and enforcement of irrigation rights. Under these conditions, allowing water users to trade pumping rights is a cost-effective mechanism to reduce the costs of regulations on water users. Indeed, despite high transaction costs, nascent markets for tradable groundwater pumping rights have emerged. This chapter describes the history, current institutional context, and economic framework of markets for groundwater pumping rights. In particular, we compare key differences in design and management between groundwater pumping rights markets and surface water markets. We provide a case study that compares groundwater trading to alternate water allocation systems in the Republican River Basin in the United States, an area with active interstate water conflict.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationGlobal Issues in Water Policy
PublisherSpringer
Pages283-303
Number of pages21
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NameGlobal Issues in Water Policy
Volume11
ISSN (Print)2211-0631
ISSN (Electronic)2211-0658

Keywords

  • Enforcement
  • Environmental management
  • Monitoring
  • Spatial externalities
  • Tradable permits
  • Transboundary conflicts

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Water Science and Technology
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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