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Author: Sydney Reynolds Publisher: ISBN: Category : Groundwater Languages : en Pages : 176
Book Description
With withdrawals from the Ogallala Aquifer continuing to exceed the recharge rate, water conservation is of great importance in the Texas High Plains. In this area, producers must continuously reexamine their production decisions as groundwater availability diminishes. Two studies were conducted which evaluate the economic effects of producer responses to declining water availability from the Ogallala Aquifer. Study one provides the dynamically iterative results from a MATLAB-based economic intertemporal allocation model that combines the economic decisions faced by producers, influenced by groundwater availability, and the changes in the available resources which affect future decision-making regarding groundwater use in the Palo Duro and Double Mountain Fork Watersheds. The temporal allocation results reflect how the conditions that producers face will change over the planning horizon under six scenarios including the status quo, a 10 and 25 percent acreage reduction, an increase of energy prices, and an increase and decrease in precipitation. In both watersheds, an increase in precipitation results in an increase in both producer profit and value added. In Hartley County within the Palo Duro Watershed, a 10 percent acreage reduction results in the lowest decline in the sum of projected producer profit ($1,812 million) with a 3.3 percent decrease from the status quo. As the availability of water declines, so does the yield, revenue, and overall profitability for each crop. However, the policies that conserve the greatest amount of water may not be the most ideal situation for producers. Focusing on value added, a 25 percent reduction in irrigated acres provides the second highest increase in value added for the rural economy. This scenario also projects a 6.4 percent decrease in total water use and a 25.9 increase in ending saturated thickness. In Lynn County and the Double Mountain Fork Watershed, the considerably lower starting well capacity and saturated thickness result in the acreage reduction scenarios being the only scenarios in which there is any change in total water use or ending saturated thickness. As groundwater levels continue to decline in the Ogallala Aquifer, stakeholders, policymakers, and producers encourage the adoption of new irrigation technology in an effort to conserve groundwater, extend the economic life of the aquifer, and enhance profitability. Study two evaluates the economic feasibility of one such technology currently receiving attention in the Central Ogallala region, the mobile drip irrigation (MDI) application system. This study compares MDI to low elevation spray application irrigation by evaluating the changes in variable cost per hectare to calculate the payback period for a MDI system under three levels of investment cost for grain and fiber crops representing three levels of water use while holding yield constant. Using a 3% discount rate, under the medium level of investment cost ($371 per hectare), a discounted payback period of 4.9, 9.0, and 6.3 years is required for corn, cotton, and sorghum/wheat, respectively. As the cost per hectare to convert an existing center pivot drops to $185 per hectare, the payback period also drops to 2.3, 4.2, and 3.0 years, respectively. Thus, producers growing higher water use crops are able to recover the costs of the conversion to MDI through increased water use efficiency quicker than producers growing medium and lower water use crops.
Author: Sydney Reynolds Publisher: ISBN: Category : Groundwater Languages : en Pages : 176
Book Description
With withdrawals from the Ogallala Aquifer continuing to exceed the recharge rate, water conservation is of great importance in the Texas High Plains. In this area, producers must continuously reexamine their production decisions as groundwater availability diminishes. Two studies were conducted which evaluate the economic effects of producer responses to declining water availability from the Ogallala Aquifer. Study one provides the dynamically iterative results from a MATLAB-based economic intertemporal allocation model that combines the economic decisions faced by producers, influenced by groundwater availability, and the changes in the available resources which affect future decision-making regarding groundwater use in the Palo Duro and Double Mountain Fork Watersheds. The temporal allocation results reflect how the conditions that producers face will change over the planning horizon under six scenarios including the status quo, a 10 and 25 percent acreage reduction, an increase of energy prices, and an increase and decrease in precipitation. In both watersheds, an increase in precipitation results in an increase in both producer profit and value added. In Hartley County within the Palo Duro Watershed, a 10 percent acreage reduction results in the lowest decline in the sum of projected producer profit ($1,812 million) with a 3.3 percent decrease from the status quo. As the availability of water declines, so does the yield, revenue, and overall profitability for each crop. However, the policies that conserve the greatest amount of water may not be the most ideal situation for producers. Focusing on value added, a 25 percent reduction in irrigated acres provides the second highest increase in value added for the rural economy. This scenario also projects a 6.4 percent decrease in total water use and a 25.9 increase in ending saturated thickness. In Lynn County and the Double Mountain Fork Watershed, the considerably lower starting well capacity and saturated thickness result in the acreage reduction scenarios being the only scenarios in which there is any change in total water use or ending saturated thickness. As groundwater levels continue to decline in the Ogallala Aquifer, stakeholders, policymakers, and producers encourage the adoption of new irrigation technology in an effort to conserve groundwater, extend the economic life of the aquifer, and enhance profitability. Study two evaluates the economic feasibility of one such technology currently receiving attention in the Central Ogallala region, the mobile drip irrigation (MDI) application system. This study compares MDI to low elevation spray application irrigation by evaluating the changes in variable cost per hectare to calculate the payback period for a MDI system under three levels of investment cost for grain and fiber crops representing three levels of water use while holding yield constant. Using a 3% discount rate, under the medium level of investment cost ($371 per hectare), a discounted payback period of 4.9, 9.0, and 6.3 years is required for corn, cotton, and sorghum/wheat, respectively. As the cost per hectare to convert an existing center pivot drops to $185 per hectare, the payback period also drops to 2.3, 4.2, and 3.0 years, respectively. Thus, producers growing higher water use crops are able to recover the costs of the conversion to MDI through increased water use efficiency quicker than producers growing medium and lower water use crops.
Author: Gabriela Perez-Quesada Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
The depletion of groundwater stocks reduces the flow of economic value and the production of goods from the resource. This dissertation quantifies these effects in the context of the High Plains Aquifer in the central US. One particular challenge in estimating these effects that we overcome is that feedback effects from irrigation behavior affect resource conditions, which creates an endogeneity concern. We also provide new insights on the potential of collective efforts by irrigators to manage the resource. We study how heterogeneity in resource and user characteristics affect their individuals' willingness to support efforts to collectively reduce water use. The first chapter estimates how changes in groundwater stocks affect the returns to agricultural land. We avoid bias from feedback effects by exploiting hydrologic variation in pre-development saturated thickness that was determined by natural processes in previous geological eras. Simulation results reveal that the average annual present value of returns to land are expected to decrease in the High Plains region by $120.6 million in 2050, and by $250.5 million in 2100. The most severe decreases in returns to land are expected to occur in Texas, Kansas, and Colorado. When the initial saturated thickness is less than 70 feet, most of the economic impact (63%) of a decrease in the stock of groundwater occurs through an adjustment in irrigated acreage (extensive margin), while 37% occurs through reduced irrigated rental rates (intensive margin). When saturated thickness is larger, nearly all of the response is at the extensive margin. The second chapter examines how observed differences in the stock of groundwater affect corn production. To account for the endogeneity of groundwater stock, we exploit variation in current saturated thickness due to variation in pre-development saturated thickness. Simulation results reveal that the annual production of corn would decrease by 48.1 million bushels in the north portion of the High Plains Aquifer due to a uniform 10 ft decrease in saturated thickness, whereas the annual production of corn would decrease by 15.7 million bushels in the south. Further, we find that when initial saturated thickness is less than 70 ft, most of the impact on corn production of a decrease in the stock of groundwater occurs through an adjustment in irrigated acres in both the north and the south. When saturated thickness is larger than 70 ft, then the adjustment is mostly through a change in cropping patterns on irrigated land in the south but still through irrigated acres in the north. The third chapter uses unique data obtained from consequential stated preference surveys in Kansas to explore the factors that influence farmers preferred reductions in groundwater use through a water conservation program implemented by a Groundwater Management District. Our results reveal that farmers located in areas where the aquifer is more depleted support larger reductions in groundwater use. But we also find that characteristics of the users matter as much or more than the status of the aquifer in determining support. Opposition to reductions in water use are strongest among farmers who strongly agree that water rights are a private property, landlords and those who irrigate a larger proportion of their farm. Further, we evaluate farmers' preferences for the methods of assigning water allocations. We find that none of the options are preferred by a majority of farmers and there is no clear evidence that aquifer characteristics or observed farmer characteristics are the key factors affecting the probability that a farmer ranks a method as the best option. This makes it difficult for groundwater managers to identify which method is more likely to be considered fair by farmers. Our results are informative for managers of water throughout Kansas, the High Plains and other regions where conserving water resources is a high priority and localized and stakeholder-driven conservation plans could be a solution.
Author: John Opie Publisher: U of Nebraska Press ISBN: 1496207289 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 434
Book Description
The Ogallala aquifer, a vast underground water reserve extending from South Dakota through Texas, is the product of eons of accumulated glacial melts, ancient Rocky Mountain snowmelts, and rainfall, all percolating slowly through gravel beds hundreds of feet thick. Ogallala: Water for a Dry Land is an environmental history and historical geography that tells the story of human defiance and human commitment within the Ogallala region. It describes the Great Plains’ natural resources, the history of settlement and dryland farming, and the remarkable irrigation technologies that have industrialized farming in the region. This newly updated third edition discusses three main issues: long-term drought and its implications, the efforts of several key groundwater management districts to regulate the aquifer, and T. Boone Pickens’s failed effort to capture water from the aquifer to supply major Texas urban areas. This edition also describes the fierce independence of Texas ranchers and farmers who reject any governmental or bureaucratic intervention in their use of water, and it updates information about the impact of climate change on the aquifer and agriculture. Read Char Miller's article on theconversation.com to learn more about the Ogallala Aquifer.
Author: Ernest A. Engelbert Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 0520310926 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 514
Book Description
Agricultural production in the semi-arid western United States is dependent on irrigation. Population in the seventeen western states has been and is expected to continue increasing. Groundwater levels are declining throughout the region with long-term pumping and increased demands leading to greater pumping lifts and costs, land subsidence, and salt water intrusion into groundwater basins. Construction and operation costs of future water development in these states will be great, both in dollars and in economic and social effects. Competition for the available water supply due to increased demands in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors continues to increase. Although considerable attention has been given to some aspects of declining water supplies for irrigated agriculture in particular areas, this is the first volume to adress in a comprehensive manner the effects of scarce water supplies on agricultural production and the resultant impacts at regional, state, national, and international levels. Over seventy experts, representing all the major physical and social sciences as well as industries examine the issues and conclude that important decisions must be made at all levels of government and private enterprise if the prosperity and quality of life in the region are to be maintained. Specific technical, economic, institutional, and managerial solutions are recommended to forestall an impending water crisis. All segments of society--agriculturalists, urbanites, food processors, land developers, environmentalists, and others--have major stakes in the outcome of any action for future water supplies and distribution in the West. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1984.
Author: Sydney Reynolds
Author: Sydney Reynolds
Author: Gabriela Perez-Quesada
Author: John Opie
Author: Peter B. McMahon
Author: 
Author: Ernest A. Engelbert
Author: Stephen Harold Amosson
Author: 
Author: Ann E. Bell
Author: High Plains Associates