

@mastersthesis {6569,
	title = {Valuing our water resources and modeling water markets},
	year = {2004},
	note = {3156680},
	school = {The University of New Mexico},
	type = {phdPh.{D}.},
	address = {Ann Arbor},
	abstract = {This dissertation examines one river basin and a collection of U.S. water utilities in three essays to estimate the economic values for three types of water uses: (1) surface water for irrigation use, (2) groundwater for storage by water utilities, and (3) groundwater for residential or urban consumption. The river basin examined in this study is the Rio Grande in New Mexico, which is located in the and southwestern United States. The first essay develops an optimal cropping pattern model for the San Luis Valley agrarian community with a fixed water constraint. By optimizing crop allocations in the short run, the total agricultural benefits and thus returns to irrigated water use are maximized. Once a willingness-to-pay for irrigated water is estimated, a market for irrigation surface water can be modeled using the rules of prior appropriation to determine the order in which irrigators receive their water. This research contributes to the literature by using a short run model with fixed water inputs to examine the effects of drought in the growing season. The purpose of the second essay is to apply the Hotelling Valuation Principle method of valuation to our groundwater reserves in the same way that it is now applied to oil and gas reserves. This essay will test whether groundwater behaves as an exhaustible resource whenever the rate of pumping exceeds the rate at which the resource is replenished. Data from water utilities across the United States is used to estimate the value of our "in-ground" water reserves using an asset valuation framework. It extends the literature by adding "water" to the list of resources valued by the Hotelling Valuation Principle. The third essay uses the hedonic method for valuing environmental dis-amenities. It estimates the housing value damages suffered by homeowners who live in close proximity to contaminated groundwater sites in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This research extends the literature by valuing the impact of resource policy, or lack thereof.},
	keywords = {0501:Economics, 0503:Agricultural economics, Agricultural economics, economics, Environmental disamenities, Hotelling valuation, Irrigation, New Mexico, Social sciences, Water markets, Water resources},
	url = {http://search.proquest.com/docview/305163515?accountid=14270},
	author = {Ewers, Mary E}
}
