Assessing groundwater policy with coupled economic- groundwater hydrologic modeling

Authored by Unknown

Date Published: 2014-03

DOI: 10.1002/2013wr013666

Sponsors: No sponsors listed

Platforms: No platforms listed

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

This study explores groundwater management policies and the effect of modeling assumptions on the projected performance of those policies. The study compares an optimal economic allocation for groundwater use subject to streamflow constraints, achieved by a central planner with perfect foresight, with a uniform tax on groundwater use and a uniform quota on groundwater use. The policies are compared with two modeling approaches, the Optimal Control Model (OCM) and the Multi-Agent System Simulation (MASS). The economic decision models are coupled with a physically based representation of the aquifer using a calibrated MODFLOW groundwater model. The results indicate that uniformly applied policies perform poorly when simulated with more realistic, heterogeneous, myopic, and self-interested agents. In particular, the effects of the physical heterogeneity of the basin and the agents undercut the perceived benefits of policy instruments assessed with simple, single-cell groundwater modeling. This study demonstrates the results of coupling realistic hydrogeology and human behavior models to assess groundwater management policies. The Republican River Basin, which overlies a portion of the Ogallala aquifer in the High Plains of the United States, is used as a case study for this analysis. Key Points <list id=”wrcr20809-list-0001” list-type=”bulleted”> <list-item id=”wrcr20809-li-0001”>Detailed physical model was necessary to properly investigate policy instruments <list-item id=”wrcr20809-li-0002”>Agent heterogeneity significantly affects policy instrument effectiveness <list-item id=”wrcr20809-li-0003”>Both policy instruments benefit from a weighted system or an adaptive system
Tags
Agent-based modeling MODFLOW tax Optimization Republican River optimal control quota