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Model to Evaluate Alternative Irrigation Distribution Systems with an Exhaustible Water Supply*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Ronald D. Lacewell  and
John C. Pearce
Ronald D. Lacewell
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at Texas A & M University
John C. Pearce
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at Texas A & M University
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Extract

In many regions, irrigation water is pumped from an underground aquifer that receives little or no recharge. With an exhaustible water supply, water available in year t + 1 depends on quantity of water available in year t − 1 and the quantity withdrawn in year t. As the water supply decreases, pumping costs increase and returns to water and management decline.

The exhaustible nature of the water supply causes an especially difficult problem for the farm operator in that he must allocate water within and among years. In addition, the farm operator is faced with irrigation investment decisions; e.g., type of irrigation distribution system to use. He must consider simultaneously, labor intensive versus capital intensive systems and effect of each system on present value and economic life of his specific water supply. To manually evaluate the alternatives, making the necessary calculations would be prohibitive in terms of both cost and time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , December 1973 , pp. 15 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 1973

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Footnotes

*

Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Article No. 10468

References

[1]Harman, Wyatte L., “An Economic Evaluation of Irrigation Water Use Over Time On Texas Farms with a Rapidly Diminishing Water Supply,” unpublished Master's Thesis, Texas A&M University, Jan. 1966.Google Scholar
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[4]Lacewell, Ronald D., “Estimating Distribution Cost of Irrigation Water Drawn from an Exhaustible Aquifer,” Journal of the Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Oct. 1971), pp. 51–55.Google Scholar
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[6]Lacewell, Ronald D. and Hughes, W. F., “A Comparison of Capital Requirements and Labor Use, Alternative Sprinkler Irrigation Systems, Texas High Plains,” Texas Agr. Exp. Stat., Departmental Information Report 71-3, March 1971.Google Scholar
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