Effects of initial aquifer conditions on economic benefits from groundwater conservation
| Autor: | Nicholas Brozovic, Adrian P. Butler, Timothy Foster |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
geography
geography.geographical_feature_category 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Groundwater flow business.industry 0208 environmental biotechnology Environmental engineering Aquifer 02 engineering and technology 01 natural sciences 020801 environmental engineering Water resources Water conservation Hydrology (agriculture) Agriculture Environmental science Agricultural productivity business Water resource management Groundwater 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Water Science and Technology |
| Zdroj: | Water Resources Research. 53:744-762 |
| ISSN: | 0043-1397 |
| Popis: | Worldwide, there is growing recognition of the need to reduce agricultural groundwater use in response to rapid rates of aquifer depletion. To date, however, few studies have evaluated how benefits of conservation vary along an aquifer's depletion pathway. To address this question, we develop an integrated modeling framework that couples an agro-economic model of farmers' field-level irrigation decision-making with a borehole-scale groundwater flow model. Unique to this framework is the explicit consideration of the dynamic reductions in well yields that occur as an aquifer is depleted, and how these changes in intraseasonal groundwater supply affect farmers' ability to manage production risks caused by climate variability and, in particular, drought. For an illustrative case study in the High Plains region of the United States, we apply our model to analyze the value of groundwater conservation activities for different initial aquifer conditions. Our results demonstrate that there is a range of initial conditions for which reducing pumping will have long-term economic benefits for farmers by slowing reductions in well yields and prolonging the usable lifetime of an aquifer for high-value irrigated agriculture. In contrast, restrictions on pumping that are applied too early or too late will provide limited welfare benefits. We suggest, therefore, that there are ‘windows of opportunity’ to implement groundwater conservation, which will depend on complex feedbacks between local hydrology, climate, crop growth, and economics. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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