Dr. Gi-Eu Lee, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University
Dr. Kimberly Rollins, Professor, Dept. of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Connecticut
Seminar Title: “The Role of Unrecorded Water Sharing on Efficiency for Prior Appropriation Irrigation Surface Water Rights: Empirical Evidence from Nevada”
Abstract:
Irrigated agriculture in the semi-arid western U.S. depends heavily on priority-based water right systems that deliver water to assigned land parcels by priority order, so that lands with lower priority assignments, even if for watering higher valued crops, face curtailments in years of insufficient water. We present evidence of unrecorded temporary water sharing to re-allocate irrigation water from lands with higher to lower priority water rights increases efficiency of water use during drought periods. We note two forms of unrecorded sharing. The first is between land parcels with water rights owned by a single owner as part of a portfolio of senior and junior rights. The second is between land parcels with different owners. Because no approvals or permits are needed, these temporary re-allocations are neither recorded nor observed directly. We identify re-allocative water sharing through changes in irrigated acreages of croplands in Nevada’s Carson River Valley, where surface irrigation is necessary for agricultural production for the basin’s two major crops, grass hay and alfalfa. Our results show that water sharing redistributes 3.1 % to 3.5% of total annual surface irrigation water from relatively lower to higher valued croplands, thus suggesting improved water use efficiency during drought years. As we find no previous studies concerning efficiency gains from these forms of water sharing, our findings suggest that prior empirical estimates may under-represent agricultural water use efficiencies under prior appropriation, the predominant existing water right regulatory system throughout the U.S. West.
Wednesday, Mar 31, 2021
2:30pm – 3:30pm (EDT)
*Link to Join*:
https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/uconn-cmr/j.php?MTID=mb778d6ec618869882b94a73829a5b033
Meeting number (access code): 120 784 7379
Meeting password: 3U6yn2fTgN8
For more information, contact: Tatiana Andreyeva at tatiana.andreyeva@uconn.edu