The Bureau of Reclamation's new mandate for irrigation water conservation: Purposes and policy alternatives

Journal Article · Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Water Resources Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/90WR02403· OSTI ID:5745759

Moore, M R ^[1]

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1. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, DC (United States)

Although the Bureau of Reclamation adopted a new mission as a water management agency, social purposes of the mission and methods of accomplishing the purposes remain undefined. A broad consensus agrees that a central feature of the agency's management program should be irrigation water conservation. This paper describes three purposes of irrigation water conservation: achieving economic efficiency of water allocation, improving environmental quality of western river systems, and satisfying outstanding Native American water claims. Five policy instruments are described as alternative methods of inducing conservation: quantity-based regulation, price-based regulation, transferable water use permits, conservation subsidies, and decentralization of ownership of Reclamation facilities. Two findings are: (1) price-based regulation may not produce water conservation and (2) conservation policy instruments should be chosen with reference to their ability to achieve the purposes of federal water conservation policy. An example illustrates quantitative effects on farm income of the alternative instruments.

• OSTI ID: 5745759
• Journal Information: Water Resources Research; (United States), Vol. 27:2; ISSN 0043-1397
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
US BUREAU OF RECLAMATION
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
WATER
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
AMERICAN INDIANS
ECONOMICS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
IRRIGATION
PERMITS
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
HUMAN POPULATIONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MANAGEMENT
MINORITY GROUPS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POPULATIONS
US DOI
US ORGANIZATIONS
540320* - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
290300 - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety