Water Rights and Optimal Reservoir Management
- Creators
- Burness, H. Stuart
- Quirk, James P.
Abstract
In many areas, notably the arid portion of the western United States, economic development and increased use of both surface and ground water supplies has been accompanied by proliferation of water storage facilities. As these reservoirs are filling, rivers become more completely appropriated and ground water supplies approach depletion more rapidly. While the analysis and management of ground water and surface water supplies should be integrated, we consider surface water independently, thus following the bifurcation in the treatment of ground and surface water under existing water law. In Burness and Quirk (1977), we considered the efficiency aspects of the appropriative water rights doctrine in the static analogy of an uncontrolled river. Here we follow in the spirit of Gessford and Karlin (1965) and analyze the optimal operation of a water storage facility in the presence of downstream users. In addition, we consider alterations in diversion capacity by water users in the presence of such a facility. By explicitly considering alternative water rights doctrines we are able to comment on the efficiency and stability of prevalent patterns of ownership and operation.
Additional Information
This research was conducted at the Environmental Quality Laboratory at Caltech and was supported in part under a grant from the Energy Research and Development Administration, No. EY-76-G-03-1305, Caltech Energy Research Program. Published in Trail Lake Conference on Resource Pricing, edited by R. d'Ange. New York: Wiley & Sons, 1979.Attached Files
Published - sswp165_update_v.2.pdf
Files
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 82625
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20171024-143650616
- EY-76-G-03-1305
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- Caltech Energy Research Program
- Created
-
2017-10-25Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2019-10-03Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Social Science Working Papers, Environmental Quality Laboratory
- Series Name
- Social Science Working Paper
- Series Volume or Issue Number
- 165