Aquanomics: Water Markets and the Environment

Description

Water is becoming increasingly scarce. If recent usage trends continue, shortages are inevitable. Aquanomics discusses some of the instruments and policies that may be implemented to postpone, or even avoid, the onset of "water crises." These policies include establishing secure and transferable private water rights and extending these rights to uses that traditionally have not been allowed, including altering in-stream flows and ecosystem functions. The editors argue that such policies will help maximize water quantity and quality as water becomes scarcer and more valuable. Aquanomics contains many examples of how this is being accomplished, particularly in the formation of water markets and market-like exchanges of water rights. Many observers see calamity ahead unless water supplies are harnessed and effectively conserved, and unless water quality can be improved. It is also clear that declining water quality is a serious problem in much of the world, as increasing human activities induce high levels of water degradation. Those who voice these concerns, argue the contributors to this volume, fail to consider the forces for improvement inherent in market political-economic systems that can address water issues. The contributors see water quality in economically advanced countries as improving, and they believe this establishes the validity of market-based approaches. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. Markets for Freshwater Ecosystem Services 3. Water Quality Markets: Institutional Design and Performance 4. Buying Water for the Environment 5. Auctions of Water Rights 6. Transactions Costs and Water Markets: The Anticommons Perspective 7. The Evolving Public Trust Doctrine: An Obstacle to Water Marketing 8. Market-like Water Quality Trading: Why It Matters, and How to Make It Happen 9. The Economic Effects of Using Property Taxes in Lieu of Direct User Fees to Pay for Water 10. The Economics of Dam Decommissioning for Ecosystem Restoration: Making Informed Decisions to Remove Aging U.S. Dams 11. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the Political Economy of California Water Allocation 12. Lessons from Los Angeles: Dealing with Diminishing Predictability in Los Angeles Water Sources 13. Dams, Water Rights, and Market Transfers in California About the Authors Index