Abstract
The effectiveness of groundwater in fulfilling crop water deficits depends on its quality and quantity. This paper examines the relationship between irrigators’ stated concerns over groundwater quality and groundwater quantity and their past water use and cropping decisions. Information on irrigator concerns over groundwater quality and quantity is obtained from 626 survey responses of agricultural producers in the Kansas portion of the High Plains Aquifer. We combine 20 years of field-level water use and cropping data with each of the 626 survey responses. We find that irrigators indicating elevated concern over either groundwater quality or groundwater quantity correlates with less total water use, fewer total irrigated acres, and fewer acres of irrigated corn. Additionally, concerns over groundwater quantity generally correlate with a greater reduction in water use along multiple water use margins compared to equal concerns over groundwater quality.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 100246 |
| Journal | Water Resources and Economics |
| Volume | 47 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2024
Funding
Depletion of the HPA is a widespread concern among managers, irrigators, and the scientific community [3]. Steward et al. [34] estimate that recharge supports only 15 % of current pumping activity in the Kansas HPA. In a survey of 205 irrigators located in the Colorado and Nebraska portions of the HPA, Suter et al. [35] find an average level of concern over future groundwater availability ranging between \u201Cslightly concerned\u201D and \u201Cmoderately concerned.\u201DAs mentioned above, water rights in Kansas are limited in their annual volumes and acreage allowances by DWR. One potential concern is that irrigators who indicate elevated concern over groundwater quality or quantity were systematically granted lower total water and acreage allowances when their water rights were perfected with DWR. This scenario would produce spurious correlation between irrigation outcomes and indicated level of concern. We explore this possibility by conducting one-way analysis of variance of annual authorized water use and irrigated acreage by each category of concern for groundwater quality and quantity for the water right groups participating in the survey. In short, we do not obtain any statistically significant evidence that the average authorized water use and acreage is different across the five categories of concern for water right groups who participated in the survey.This work was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Hatch project 1017720 and multi-state project 1020662), National Science Foundation (award #2316295), and by a financial gift from John and Della Hodler. John and Della Hodler had no role in the design, analysis, or writing of this article.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Department of Water Resources | |
| US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative | 1020662, 1017720 |
| US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative | |
| National Science Foundation Arctic Social Science Program | 2316295 |
| National Science Foundation Arctic Social Science Program |
Keywords
- High plains aquifer
- Irrigation
- Perceptions
- Survey
- Water quality
- Water scarcity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Water Science and Technology
- Economics and Econometrics
