This paper examines how a surface water market affects the performance of a groundwater basin that is in open access. The market only solves the groundwater over-extraction problem when pumping costs are high, while market failure arises when the common pool resource (CPR) problem is severe. I...

This paper considers the problem of a water management authority faced with the threat of a drought that hits at an uncertain date. Three management policies are investigated: i) a laissez-faire (open-access) policy of automatic adjustment through a zero marginal private net benefit condition,...

We develop a dynamic groundwater model that incorporates both groundwater pumping and investment in deeper wells and apply the model to the arid, alluvial aquifer region of Northern India that is experiencing rapid depletion. We compute the potential benefits of regulating groundwater use by...

Greater environmental protections and increased public safety are often believed to be synonymous, or at least to go hand-in-hand. Sometimes, however, those two goals are arguably in tension; for example, when the excess application of salt for winter deicing, in combination with other chloride...

India is the largest groundwater user in the world, with an estimated usage of around 230 cubic kilometers per year, more than a quarter of the global total. With more than 60 percent of irrigated agriculture and 85 percent of drinking water supplies dependent on it, groundwater is a vital...

Conjunctive water use refers to simultaneous use of surface water and groundwater to meet crop demand. This Note concludes that to optimize conjunctive use of water, the best way forward is to concentrate on capacity building of irrigation system managers to improve system management and reshape...