Most municipalities use conventional treatment to produce potable water. Historically, desalination has not been economically feasible, but technological advancements warrant a new analysis. This study analyzes the costs of two Texas municipal facilities producing water using the above...

This case study investigates the effect of a change in cropping pattern involving expanded acres of crops for biofuel feedstock, on the discharge of nutrients to rivers. Annual data from 1968-2008 on stream flow, cropped acres, and precipitation for Wharton County, Texas are used. A positive...

The objective of this study is develop a theoretical model that can evaluate two types of public health expenditures on water-borne health risks: water-related municipal services, an ex ante preventative measure against water-borne contamination, and medical treatment, an ex post treatment of...

This paper examines the optimal allocation of several inputs in the context of seawater desalination by reverse osmosis (RO) as a source of municipal (or commercial or industrial) water. A cost-minimization model is developed, a production function is estimated, and sensitivity analyses are...

The Rio Grande has headwaters in Colorado, flows through New Mexico, and serves as the United States.–Mexico border in Texas, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. Snow melt in Colorado and northern New Mexico constitutes the water river supply for New Mexico and the El Paso region, whereas...

Economic losses caused by uncontrolled pumping of groundwater is of major concern on the Texas High Plains. A recursive linear programming model is used to evaluate various annual limitations on aquifer depletion. Results indicate that, especially under furrow irrigation, some limitations on...

A regional field crop and national livestock econometric model (TECHSIM) is used to examine the impacts of diverting plant oils (cottonseed oil and soybean oil) to use as a diesel fuel replacement. Two scenarios which represented a five and ten percent replacement of agriculture's diesel fuel...