Estimating the Spatial Distribution of Groundwater Demand In the Texas High Plains

Shiliang Zhao, Chenggang Wang, James P. Bordovsky, Zhuping Sheng and Jesus R. Gastelum

No 103931, 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Developing groundwater management plans requires a good understanding of the interdependence of groundwater hydrology and producer water use behavior. While state-of-the-art groundwater models require water demand data at highly disaggregated levels, the lack of producer water use data has held up the progress to meet that need. This paper proposes an econometric framework that links county-level crop acreage data to well-level hydrologic data to produce heterogeneous patterns of crop choice and irrigation practices within a county. Together with agronomic data on irrigation water requirements of various crops and irrigation practices, this model permits estimation of the water demand distribution within a county. We apply this model to a panel of 16 counties in the Southern Texas High Plains from 1972 to 2000. The results obtained not only are consistent with those from the traditional multinomial logit land use model, but also indicate the presence of large intra- and inter-county heterogeneity in producer water use behavior.

Keywords: Crop Production/Industries; Resource/Energy Economics and Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21
Date: 2011
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea11:103931

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.103931

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