Past and future water conflicts in the Upper Klamath Basin: An economic appraisal

摘要: [1] The water conflict in the Upper Klamath Basin typifies growing competition between agricultural and environmental uses. In 2001, drought conditions triggered Endangered Species Act-related requirements that curtailed irrigation diversions to Reclamation Project, costing irrigators tens of millions dollars. Although this event has significantly elevated perceived risk future economic catastrophe basin (and therefore level among users), several key changes related availability have occurred since 2001. These include reduced ESA increased groundwater pumping capacity, which lowered actual severity shortages. paper, we use a mathematical programming model evaluate how these alter likelihood consequences We also consider effect more flexible transfers via markets. Our analysis indicates like those seen 2001 would modest impacts than when combined with contingent supplementation transfer mechanisms such as markets, both magnitude losses be greatly reduced.