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AUBURN DAM: A CASE STUDY OF WATER POLICY AND ECONOMICS 1
Author(s) -
Duffield John W.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1980.tb02383.x
Subject(s) - recreation , resource (disambiguation) , land reclamation , water diversion , hazard , irrigation , water resource management , environmental planning , natural resource economics , environmental science , environmental resource management , business , economics , political science , geography , computer science , archaeology , computer network , ecology , chemistry , organic chemistry , biology , law
This paper provides a critical analysis of the Bureau of Reclamation's Auburn‐Folsom South project in California. While this massive $1.5 billion project is temporarily halted for redesign for earthquake hazard, it is timely to examine its justification on economic grounds. The key finding is that several major benefit categories, irrigation and recreation, have been grossly overstated. In addition, the Bureau failed entirely to estimate the cost of use on the free‐flowing American River, or a probability‐weighted estimate of catastrophic loss. Revised estimates indicate that the project is not economically justified. In addition, the project has unattractive distributive effects. The implications of this case study for current revisions in U.S. water policy are explored. The Auburn study basically provides support for the U.S. Water Resource Council's draft manual of procedures for evaluating federal water resource projects.