Water Economics in Mojave Desert

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Water Economics in Mojave Desert

• --- by Melody Keung

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History of Water Uses

• Mid-1800 Gold Rush
• Population growth
• Pump groundwater from gold mines
• 1900s Farming Ranching
• Alfalfa H2O-consumptive crop
• Springs development for livestock
• Today Agriculture, Urban, Recreation
  Industry

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Existing Water Management

• 1.Groundwater
• Correlative Rights Doctrine
• Landowners overlying an aquifer share
  groundwater
• When supplies are in excess of the reasonable
  needs of overlying landowners, water may be put
  to non-overlying uses

• 2.Surface water
• MWA operates water supply
• import discharges from Lake Silverwood, the
  Morongo Basin Pipeline, the Mojave River
  Pipeline, and the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water
  Agency's pipeline

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WATER YEAR 1997-98 WATER PRODUCTION IN ACRE FEET
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Problems of Current System
1.Public water delivery system Water is heavily
subsidized Cheap water gives the illusion of
abundance and discourages water conservation
2.Landowners own underlying groundwater
Tragedy of Commons Pumpers pump the water as
rapidly as possible while the lift costs are low
Water may not be available at a later date.
People get as much as they can now.
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Benefits of Using Groundwater
1.Provide wider recreation choices
2.Cheap irrigation and cheap food
3.Readily available and larger storage volume.
Cheap water source to support growing population
4. Water quality is generally not subject to
contamination by microbes and temperature is
constant
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Cost of Groundwater Exploitation
1. Land Collapse

• 2. Lowering water table
• Raise cost of pumping
• Increase production cost and food price
• Possible contamination

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4.Drying of Springs Loss of habitats
Extinction of native fishes
3.Future water shortage
5.Reactivation of old faults
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M Do the landowners in Mojave overlying an
aquifer still share groundwater and can use as
much water as they want?
E-mail Interview 1
Raymond Arvidson An environmental studies
professor at Washington University
R Groundwater cannot be taken out of the MNP,
but it can be taken from surrounding basins,
thereby lowering water table in mountains
surrounding MNP.
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E-mail Interview 2
Steven Gorelick A groundwater management and
hydrogeology professor at Stanford University
M If the price of surface water supply
increases, people may substitute with
groundwater. What can we do to prevent this bad
consequence?
S Water levels and pumping yields will decline
as more water is pumped out. As water levels
decline, it costs more and more to extract the
water.  People wont substitute groundwater for
surface water greatly.
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E-mail Interview 3
Brain Gray An environmental law professor at
University of California Hasting College of the
Law
M How well is the water markets developed in
Mojave ?
B The users there are still in the early stages
of figuring our how to manage the aquifer
cooperatively and efficiently. 
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M Well-defined property rights are essential for
a successful water trade. how well the water
property rights in the desert are defined?
B The property rights to groundwater in the
Mojave basin are now pretty well defined (as
least in comparison to most water rights).  They
are quantified for each groundwater right holder
and each user's annual pumping will be metered. 
Groundwater right holders also may transfer
their Free Production Allowance on either a
short- or long-term basis. 
M There are golf courses and fishing lakes in
Mojave which require a huge amount of water to
run. To an environmentalist, it's inappropriate
to have such water-consumptive activities held in
a desert. Yet, if these recreation sites are
profitable and the owners can pay high price for
water in water markets, they will stay where they
are and may drive out agriculture business in
that area. What do you think about this? 
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B I too am a bit conflicted.  On one hand, they
are gross water users in a desert environment. 
On the other hand, so are a lot of the
traditional uses--e.g., alfalfa and dairy
farming--and golf courses likely generate far
more revenue and probably more employment and
consumer surplus than these other water uses. 
We have a system that is based on private
ownership of the water right and private
decisions about how best to use one's land and
water resources--subject to compliance with
environmental quality laws, labor laws, health
and safety regulation, etc.  I think one's view
of this question depends quite a bit on one's
basic economic philosophy--free market or more
interventionist.  With golf courses and fish
farms, I probably would let market forces (price
incentives, opportunity costs, etc.) and
individual choices regarding land and resource
use determine the purposes for which water is
used. 
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Suggestions

• Privatize Irrigation Projects
• Federal water projects are highly subsidized
• Private irrigation companies would end water
  subsidy. Variable water prices can reflect its
  true cost.
• Water bills would vary along with water use,
  giving users incentive to conserve

P
S
S(with subsidy)
P0
P1
D
Q
q0
q1
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2.Create and Operate a water transfer
clearinghouse Facilitates water trading
Gives water market information
3.Recycle waste water
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4.Promote water markets Promote water trade
among users Allocate water to make more
efficient use of existing supplies and promote
water conservation Agriculture water use is
fairly elastic. Reducing subsidies decreases
demand and gives farmers incentive to increase
the efficiency of their water use. Improve
existing irrigation infrastructure to increase
water conservation, like using drip irrigation
instead of surface irrigation Crop shifting
Water-consumptive recreation may become
unprofitable and be driven out
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Acknowledgements

• Raymond Arivdson, Washington University
• Steven Gorelick, Stanford Univeristy
• Brain Gray, University of California Hasting
  College of the Law
• The Mojave Water Agency website
• Water Crisis Ending the Policy Drought by
  Terry L. Anderson
• Ending Californias Water Crisis by Pacific
  Research Institute
• Battle Over Groundwater Polarizes Groups in
  Mojave Desert by EnviroLink
• Dividing the Waters by William Blomquist
• Water Markets in Theory and Practice by
  Saliba Bush

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THE END