[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/okl/wpaper/1201.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Empirical Assessment of the quantity-quality tradeoff for the Ogallala: A case study from West Texas

Author

Listed:
  • Sanchari Ghosh

    (Oklahoma State University)

  • Keith Willett

    (Oklahoma State University)

Abstract
The High Plains region in West Texas has been the focus of water conservation policies for the last two decades because of rapid depletion of groundwater in this region. Groundwater is the only source of irrigation in this region of Texas with Ogallala serving as the major aquifer. In recent times, however, attent ion has been drawn on nitrate pollution of the Ogallala aquifer, though no study or research report has come up with a joint management solution to cope with both of these problems. This research attempts to fill this gap, taking the rural county of Castro as a case study. The main objective is to make an empirical assessment of this tradeoff by capturing the dynamic behavior of the stock of groundwater as well as the stock of pollutant over a twenty year period. Two sets of policies are developed to control the impact of excess fertilizer use on the groundwater and to evaluate the effect on the net present value of production. First a constraint is imposed on the use of nitrogen fertilizer per acre; second, the price of nitrogen fertilizer is raised successively by 5% and 10%. Secondly, certain policies aimed at raising the volume of water in storage such as restricting the use of irrigation water by around 0.50 acre-inch per acre from the base solution as well as buying out water rights also show positive results in terms of water quantity and quality. Restriction on the terminal value of saturated thickness (or the water table) as well as buying out water rights show a 7 and 4 mg/l increase in the stock of pollutant with a saturated thickness decline by 6 feet less than the base level.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanchari Ghosh & Keith Willett, 2012. "Empirical Assessment of the quantity-quality tradeoff for the Ogallala: A case study from West Texas," Economics Working Paper Series 1201, Oklahoma State University, Department of Economics and Legal Studies in Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:okl:wpaper:1201
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://business.okstate.edu/site-files/docs/ecls-working-papers/GhoshWillet_OKStateWP1201.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Catarina Roseta-Palma, 2003. "Joint Quantity/Quality Management of Groundwater," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 26(1), pages 89-106, September.
    2. Naomi Zeitouni & Ariel Dinar, 1997. "Mitigating negative water quality and quality externalities by joint mangement of adjacent aquifers," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 9(1), pages 1-20, January.
    3. Gisser, Micha, 1983. "Groundwater: Focusing on the Real Issue," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(6), pages 1001-1027, December.
    4. Glen D. Anderson & James J. Opaluch & W. Michael Sullivan, 1985. "Nonpoint Agricultural Pollution: Pesticide Contamination of Groundwater Supplies," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 67(5), pages 1238-1243.
    5. Satya N. Yadav, 1997. "Dynamic Optimization of Nitrogen Use When Groundwater Contamination Is Internalized at the Standard in the Long Run," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(3), pages 931-945.
    6. Fleming, R. A. & Adams, R. M., 1997. "The Importance of Site-Specific Information in the Design of Policies to Control Pollution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 347-358, July.
    7. Roseta-Palma, Catarina, 2002. "Groundwater Management When Water Quality Is Endogenous," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 93-105, July.
    8. Nkonya, Ephraim M. & Featherstone, Allen M., 2000. "Determining Socially Optimal Nitrogen Application Rates Using A Delayed Response Model: The Case Of Irrigated Corn In Western Kansas," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 25(2), pages 1-15, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Phoebe Koundouri, 2004. "Current Issues in the Economics of Groundwater Resource Management," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(5), pages 703-740, December.
    2. Roseta-Palma, Catarina, 2002. "Groundwater Management When Water Quality Is Endogenous," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 93-105, July.
    3. Athukorala, Wasantha & Wilson, Clevo & Managi, Shunsuke, 2017. "Social welfare losses from groundwater over-extraction for small-scale agriculture in Sri Lanka: Environmental concern for land use," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(PA), pages 47-55.
    4. Encarna Esteban & Ariel Dinar, 2013. "Cooperative Management of Groundwater Resources in the Presence of Environmental Externalities," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 54(3), pages 443-469, March.
    5. Alain Ayong Le Kama & Agnès Tomini, 2012. "Water Conservation versus Soil Salinity Control," Working Papers hal-04141151, HAL.
    6. Hubert Stahn & Agnès Tomini, 2014. "On the Environmental Efficiency of Water Storage: The Case of a Conjunctive Use of Ground and Rainwater," AMSE Working Papers 1452, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    7. Amine Chekireb & Julio Goncalves & Hubert Stahn & Agnes Tomini, 2021. "Private exploitation of the North-Western Sahara Aquifer System," Working Papers halshs-03457972, HAL.
    8. Baerenklau, Kenneth A. & Nergis, Nermin & Schwabe, Kurt A., 2007. "Effects of Nutrient Restrictions on Confined Animal Facilities: Insights from a Structural Model," 2007 Annual Meeting, July 29-August 1, 2007, Portland, Oregon 10253, Western Agricultural Economics Association.
    9. Just, Richard E. & Lichtenberg, Erik & Zilberman, David, 1989. "The Effects of the Feed Grain and Wheat Programs on Irrigation and Groundwater Depletion in Nebraska," Working Papers 197609, University of Maryland, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    10. Raphaël Soubeyran & Mabel Tidball & Agnes Tomini & Katrin Erdlenbruch, 2015. "Rainwater Harvesting and Groundwater Conservation: When Endogenous Heterogeneity Matters," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 62(1), pages 19-34, September.
    11. Isik, Murat, 2005. "The Role of Land Retirement Programs for Management of Water Resources," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19542, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    12. Brozovic, Nicholas & Sunding, David L. & Zilberman, David, 2004. "Measuring The Gains From Management Of Spatially Heterogeneous Resources: The Case Of Groundwater," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20240, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Sihvonen, Matti & Pihlainen, Sampo & Lai, Tin-Yu & Salo, Tapio & Hyytiäinen, Kari, 2021. "Crop production, water pollution, or climate change mitigation—Which drives socially optimal fertilization management most?," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    14. Catarina Roseta-Palma, 2003. "Joint Quantity/Quality Management of Groundwater," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 26(1), pages 89-106, September.
    15. de Frutos Cachorro, Julia & Erdlenbruch, Katrin & Tidball, Mabel, 2014. "Optimal adaptation strategies to face shocks on groundwater resources," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 134-153.
    16. Wu, Tao & Zhang, Ning & Gui, Lin & Wu, Wenjie, 2018. "Sustainable endogenous growth model of multiple regions: Reconciling OR and economic perspectives," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(1), pages 218-226.
    17. Yusuke Kuwayama & Nicholas Brozović, 2017. "Optimal Management of Environmental Externalities with Time Lags and Uncertainty," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(3), pages 473-499, November.
    18. Zhang, Ning & Wu, Tao & Wang, Bing & Dong, Liang & Ren, Jingzheng, 2016. "Sustainable water resource and endogenous economic growth," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 237-244.
    19. Phoebe Koundouri, 2003. "Potential for groundwater management: Gisser-Sanchez effect reconsidered," DEOS Working Papers 0307, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    20. Lichtenberg, Erik, 2002. "Agriculture and the environment," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 23, pages 1249-1313, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Extraction; pollution; constraint; quota; buyout;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q1 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture
    • Q3 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:okl:wpaper:1201. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Harounan Kazianga (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sboksus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.