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Variable Irrigation District Action in Water Trading
Author(s) -
Ghimire Narishwar,
Griffin Ronald C.
Publication year - 2015
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/jawr.12267
Subject(s) - water scarcity , pace , scarcity , irrigation , consolidation (business) , water resources , agriculture , water resource management , natural resource economics , quickening , geography , agricultural economics , environmental science , business , economics , ecology , finance , medicine , archaeology , geodesy , radiology , biology , microeconomics
Irrigation districts ( ID s) in the American west are highly diverse in their economic attributes and local water scarcity circumstances. This diversity may affect reallocative action via water transactions as scarcity rises. The institutional background defining and constraining ID s is described here. For a Texas study region the progress of permanent water right transfers involving ID s is documented and examined. An econometric analysis of multiple decades of ID water transfer activities in the Lower Rio Grande Valley finds that ID s with larger initial water right holdings and higher populations in nearby cities are more likely to participate in agricultural‐to‐municipal water transfer activities. The findings suggest that consolidation of smaller water right holding ID s may be an avenue for quickening the pace of reallocation, especially in more populated areas.