Water Sustainability eJournal最新文献

{"title":"The Conflict between Endangered Species and the State Water Plan: Will New Listings under the Endangered Species Act Thwart the State Water Planning Process?","authors":"Vanessa Puig-Williams, Melinda E. Taylor","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2539298","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2539298","url":null,"abstract":"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the “Service”) -- the primary federal agency charged with implementing the Endangered Species Act -- is required by a court order to decide the regulatory fate of more than 700 species of plants and animals by the end of 2018. As part of a 2011 settlement agreement between the Service and environmental groups, the agency must decide whether to list certain species as “endangered” or “threatened,” thereby invoking the suite of federal protections that apply to listed species. Approximately twenty of the species on the Service’s list (the “work plan”) occur in Texas; sixteen of them are aquatic species living in the rivers and springs of Texas. As a result of voters approving Proposition 6, the state has new resources with which to fund water infrastructure projects to address projected future water demands. This paper examines whether water projects included in the Regional Water Plans and the State Water Plan and certain potential surface and groundwater withdrawals could impact any of the sixteen aquatic species in Texas that may be listed by the Service. The question, in broad terms, is whether the listings of the species could throw a wrench in the State Water Plan. The bulk of the water projects recommended in the State Water Plan and the Regional Plans focus on surface water, and the majority of the work plan species depend on groundwater for survival. For those projects that involve groundwater, the projects are in locations where species on the work plan are not found. Consequently, the authors conclude that, overall, the listing of aquatic species on the work plan will not impede the State water planning process, as the listings will only impact a small number of water projects recommended in the State Water Plan. The authors found that intersections between the listing of a species and a potential water project are limited to those projects planned in the upper Brazos River, where the possible listing of the sharpnose and smalleye shiners could affect construction of several reservoirs recommended in the State Water Plan, and in the Rio Grande River, where the possible listing of the Texas hornshell could impact construction of a low water weir.","PeriodicalId":308822,"journal":{"name":"Water Sustainability eJournal","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130072492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rights, Water Use and Technical Efficiency in U.S. Agricultural Production","authors":"Andrew L. Zaeske","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2429458","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2429458","url":null,"abstract":"Use of water in agriculture has a major driving force behind general water use patterns in the United States. To assess water's usage and value to agricultural production, this paper adopts the two error stochastic frontier analysis model of Battese and Coelli (1995) to estimate a translog production frontier for agriculture at the county level with four inputs: capital; labor; intermediate inputs; and water withdrawals. We include environmental variables to account for climate effects and pay particular attention to pair-wise differences between the riparian and modified riparian, and the prior appropriation and hybrid water regimes, to place an aggregate value on additional restrictions on water use.All of the primary input coefficients are significant, except for the cross-effect between intermediates and water, with intermediates and cropland having similar marginal products across all regions. The two riparian-based regimes have comparable marginal products of water, while the hybrid average is larger than the prior appropriation value by a factor of ten. Similar patterns appear when looking at measures of efficiency, with riparian and modified riparian regimes having nearly equal efficiency and climate losses when taken in dollar terms, while prior appropriation counties display the largest efficiency losses for each measure.We combine the marginal product and the marginal effect of water-based variables on efficiency to construct a more accurate shadow price of water. The efficiency component displays a consistent premium to regulation, with an average value of $0.71 per acre-foot and a maximum of $1.47, but this does not carry through to the shadow prices. Prior appropriation rights counties have the lowest average shadow price of $15.66 and hybrid rights counties the highest at $162.26, compared to the overall average of $51.79. These differences do seem to be primarily due to the efficiency of water use in production and not due to crop choices.","PeriodicalId":308822,"journal":{"name":"Water Sustainability eJournal","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123848066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"When Retreat is the Best Option: Flood Insurance after Biggert-Waters and Other Climate Change Puzzles","authors":"Robert R. M. Verchick, L. Johnson","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2418089","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2418089","url":null,"abstract":"Commentators argue, with good reason, that flood risk polices are soft on retreat. We Americans are more interested in fortifying our castles or building them higher than in moving out of harm’s way. And that is despite warnings of rising seas and stronger storms associated with climate change. But the impulse to stay put may be eroding. In particular, the practices and policies of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are gradually encouraging retreat over other alternatives. As one example, FEMA’s current Mitigation Best Practice Database, the agency’s new National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF), now contemplates retreat mechanisms. For a while, Congress, too, beat the drums of retreat. The Biggert-Waters Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (BW-12), promised to remove important insurance subsidies for flood-prone homes, forcing some residents to consider relocation as a cost-saving option. Two years later, in response to public backlash, Congress repealed the law’s strongest retreat-based incentives. Congress is expected to reform the insurance program once again by 2017.In this article, we consider retreat as a strategy of hazard-risk reduction, with reference to the developments in FEMA practice and legislation listed above. As the effects of climate increase the risks of floods and other extreme events, we also see FEMA’s evolving retreat strategies as an important part of the nation’s climate adaptation efforts. Unfortunately, initiatives like the new NDRF and Congress’s insurance reforms are developing piecemeal, with blind spots large enough to drive a tornado through. We believe that policy makers would do better to have a set of principles to guide them when considering and implementing strategies that are intended or will have the effect of encouraging retreat. In particular, we think that Congress could have avoided the embarrassing failure of BW-12 if lawmakers had more fully recognized the complex issues at stake in retreat-based policies. One aim of our analysis is to suggest what a successful reform of the NFIP might look like, setting the foundation for more detailed conversations about flood insurance as the 2017 deadline approaches.","PeriodicalId":308822,"journal":{"name":"Water Sustainability eJournal","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128266911","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Topographic Analysis: Linkages Among Climate, Erosion and Tectonics","authors":"S. Shakil, Tazrina Habib Ananya","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2378686","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2378686","url":null,"abstract":"Triangular interactions among climate, erosion and tectonics happen during the course of formation and development of a mountain range. In this study mountain range of Nyainqentanglha of Himalaya has been focused to assess which element played the vital role in this case. Altitude data of the catchments have been used as the primary key of analysis. Significant concentration of catchment areas near glacier equilibrium line altitudes (ELA) proved the presence of glacial buzzsaw mechanism. Swath analysis confirmed the presence of Teflon peak. Finally web of interrelationship has been explored behind the development of this mountainous range.","PeriodicalId":308822,"journal":{"name":"Water Sustainability eJournal","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132995477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Institutionalization of River Basin Management as Politics of Scale – Insights from Mongolia","authors":"A. Houdret, I. Dombrowsky, Lena Horlemann","doi":"10.1016/J.JHYDROL.2013.11.037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JHYDROL.2013.11.037","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":308822,"journal":{"name":"Water Sustainability eJournal","volume":"95 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124224114","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Variation in Discharge, Precipitation and Temperature in Po River and Tributaries Basins","authors":"M. Turco, R. Vezzoli, Pierfrancesco Da Ronco, P. Mercogliano","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2490966","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2490966","url":null,"abstract":"This report provides a preliminary analysis of discharges, precipitation and temperature data since 1923 for 18 closure sections of Po river and its tributaries. First we have investigated the consistency of the data, evaluating the inter-basin correlations, and the relationship between precipitation and discharge timeseries. This analysis provides a coherent picture, suggesting that the data used are reliable. Then we have explored the variation in temperature, precipitation and discharge in each sub-basin. While temperatures show a clear positive trend, precipitation and, generally discharge series did not show any trend at annual scale. Greater changes have been observed at monthly scale, with discharge increasing in May and October. However, the higher values of interannual variability (estimates with the standard deviation of the series), compared to these variations, suggest care in interpreting these results.","PeriodicalId":308822,"journal":{"name":"Water Sustainability eJournal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131189404","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Impact of Climate and Socioeconomic Change on Typhoon Losses in China","authors":"Laura A. Bakkensen","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2637373","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2637373","url":null,"abstract":"China currently suffers from the impacts of tropical cyclones, with an average of 9 landfalls per year leading to approximately $3.9 billion in damages and 472 lives lost. In this analysis, we estimate the impact of socioeconomic and climatic changes on these disaster losses. We first calculate historical impact functions including typhoon damage, fatality, injury, homelessness, and people affected. We then use C-STORM, the China-Specific Typhoon Outcomes integRated assessment Model, to estimate the impact of climate and socioeconomic change on losses over the next one hundred years. Our results show that climate change will reduce the overall frequency of landfalls but increase the frequency of intense storms at landfall. We estimate that socioeconomic change will increase damages by approximately 118% across China, while development will decrease other losses including fatalities and injuries. Overall, climate change is expected to slightly reduce the expected losses from typhoons, with damages, fatalities, injuries, homelessness, and people affected decreasing by approximately 7%. However, disagreement remains across climate models and these general trends mask underlying heterogeneous losses across provinces. These findings are important to inform public policy on typhoon warnings, public adaptation, and risk management planning.","PeriodicalId":308822,"journal":{"name":"Water Sustainability eJournal","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131868013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ecosystem Services and International Water Law: Towards a More Effective Determination and Implementation of Equity?","authors":"A. Rieu-Clarke, C. Spray","doi":"10.4314/PELJ.V16I2.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/PELJ.V16I2.3","url":null,"abstract":"Interest in an ecological- or an ecosystem-centred approach to natural resource management is not new, and in the case of water management has been very well emphasised for many decades. Recently however, a new focus has emerged around the identification and assessment of ecosystem services, and the potential to somehow use valuation of these services as a basis for more effective management of natural and human-linked systems. Despite this growing recognition, attempts to apply such an approach to transboundary watercourses are few and far between. While key principles of international water law, for example, equitable and reasonable utilisation, are not in conflict with an ecosystem services approach; significant challenges remain in its implementation.  However, as the methods and tools used to identify ecosystem services improve, it is likely that such an approach will offer an important means by which to reconcile competing interests over shared watercourses in the future.","PeriodicalId":308822,"journal":{"name":"Water Sustainability eJournal","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123526796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Developments in India's Western Ghats - Disaster in Dams and Tanks","authors":"R. Seenivasan","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2322142","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2322142","url":null,"abstract":"The debates surrounding the India’s Western Ghats these days revolve mostly around the ecological aspects and yet to notice the full impact of siltation on water bodies in the plains. This note brings attention to similar discussions about forest clearings and consequential siltation in the nineteenth century and finds that nothing has been learnt. Three specific case studies of water systems – one major reservoir, a medium reservoir and an ancient tank network - are looked at in this note to understand how the ‘development’ in Ghats led to the decline of water storages far away from the Ghats. The debates surrounding the Ghats should be enlarged and taken beyond their ecological importance to include water deprivation affecting millions of farmers and ordinary citizens.","PeriodicalId":308822,"journal":{"name":"Water Sustainability eJournal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129946094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Welfare Implications of Water Shortages: Higher Prices or Desalination","authors":"Yiğit Sağlam","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2271865","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2271865","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, I evaluate the welfare implications of shortages in renewable resources, and investigate the effects of cross-subsidization on these shortages. I set up a stochastic dynamic programming model in which a benevolent central planner allocates the resource for multiple user-groups subject to revenue and resource constraints. The central planner also has access to an external source which can be used at a certain cost. The solution to the model gives the “optimal” sectoral prices, and the demand for the external source. I find out that saving net revenues during resource scarcity allows the planner to charge prices below average costs when the resource is abundant. Using water data, I conclude that cross-subsidizing agriculture does not have any significant effect on the frequency of shortages.","PeriodicalId":308822,"journal":{"name":"Water Sustainability eJournal","volume":"102 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134460454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}