Article Figures & Data
Figures
- FIGURE 1
The High Plains Aquifer (Black Dots: Active Well Locations)
- FIGURE 2
8,457-Cell Model of Northern Kansas, Ogallala Aquifer (Dark Gray: Well Locations of Representative Farmers in Model; Light Gray: Extent of Aquifer)
- FIGURE 3
Total Groundwater Extraction Paths
- FIGURE 4
Total Discounted Net Benefit from Flat Tax Policy
- FIGURE 5
Distribution of Discounted Net Benefit under Optimal Flat Tax Policy (Each Diamond: One Farmer’s Discounted Net Benefits from Optimal Flat Tax Policy)
- FIGURE 6
Quantity Restriction Results
- FIGURE 7
Local Enhanced Management Area SD-6 HPA (Dark Gray) in Northwest Kansas
- FIGURE 8
Well Locations with Positive Gains from Flat Tax (Dark Gray: Areas That Realized a Positive Gain to Discounted Net Benefits from Flat Tax Policy Compared to Baseline)
Tables
Symbol Description Value I Number of farmers 2,088 N Number of cells in aquifer 8,457 Ri Average natural recharge of each cell in aquifer (acre-feet per year) 35.48 (max = 75.99; min = 26.67) Ai Surface area of aquifer of each cell (acres) 625 S Specific yield (unitless) 0.17 Ki Average hydraulic conductivity for each cell (feet/year) 23,393 (max = 73,000; min = 3,394) CA0 Average cross sectional area of each cell at time 0 (acres) 6.33 (max = 21.21; min = 0) d Distance between centroids of adjacent cells (feet) 5,217 LSi Average elevation of a cell (feet) 3,102 (max = 4,024; min = 2,104) gi Average farmer demand intercept (acre-feet) 178.84 (max = 1,022.31; min = 0.22) ki Average farmer demand slope (acre-feet) –0.66 (max = –0.001; min = –0.17) C1a Cost increase of pumping from a one foot change in height ($/acre-foot of lift) 0.1044 α Return coefficient to well 0.20 r Rate of time preference 0.03 T Time period length (year) 90 δ Minimum saturated thickness for a farmer to pump water (feet) 10 ↵a The cost is calculated using parameters from Hendricks and Peterson (2012), the average price of gas ($/Mcf), $4.68, and the amount of natural gas used to lift 1 acre-foot of water 1 foot high, 0.0223 (Mcf).
Mean Std. Dev. Applied water per acre (feet) 1.1107 0.4501 Cost of pumping (dollars per acre-foot) 13.3620 6.5895 January–April precipitation (inches) 3.5658 2.0579 May–August precipitation (inches) 11.4602 4.8201 May–August evapotranspiration (inches) 37.5238 6.0554 Dependent Variable: Applied Water per Acre Cost of pumping ($/acre-foot) -0.00395*** (0.0014) January–April precipitation 0.0041 (0.0063) May–August precipitation -0.0039 (0.0029) May–August evapotranspiration -0.0023 (0.0032) Observations 29,177 R2 0.4003 Number of groups 1,473 Note: Standard errors are in parentheses, and coefficients on time fixed effects are not reported.
↵*** Variables significant at 1%.
% Gain in Discounted Farmer’s Net Benefits (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) FT VT QR Water Market with
FT QuantitiesWater Market with
VT QuantitiesWater Market with
QRTotal gain 1.02 1.06 0.00 0.99 0.99 0.11 Minimum –100.00 −100.00 −1.99 −100.00 −100.00 −6.73 Maximum 720.73 722.33 9.44 7,071.90 189.79 5,469.07 Average 0.34 0.38 −0.01 63.86 0.09 10.75 Median –0.23 −0.20 0.00 11.51 −0.51 0.00 Note: FT, flat tax; QR, quantity restrictions; VT, variable tax.
Aquifer-wide
FTSD-6 HPA FT Aquifer-wide
QRSD-6 HPA QR SD-6 Water
Market with FT QuantitiesSD-6 Water
Market with QR QuantitiesOptimal FT 547% 1,362% — — — — Optimal QR — — 98% 32% — — Total gain 5.63% 7.25% 0.01% 8.81% 8.16% 11.55% Minimum -5.57% -32.01% 0.00% -21.66% -41.76% -46.25% Maximum 26.88% 15.54% 0.00% 25.67% 26.54% 25.57% Average 5.14% 6.76% 0.01% 9.44% 7.17% 10.40% Median 4.77% 7.84% 0.00% 13.75% 10.37% 14.37% Note: The results here are the percent gains by the group of farmers in SD-6 HPA, under locally focused policies and aquifer-wide policies. FT, flat tax; QR, quantity restriction.
Dependent Variable: % Gain from Policy FT (1) FT (2) WMFT (3) WMFT (4) % gains > 0 No Yes No Yes Acreage irrigated 7.61E–05 5.65E–04 3.95E–04*** 3.37E–03* Saturated thickness −6.44E–04** −8.74E–03*** −1.82E–03*** −7.23E–02*** Lift −4.75E–04** 2.31E–03 4.90E–04 2.05E–02** Hydraulic conductivity −3.60E–06 2.02E–05 7.06E–06 1.36E–04 Recharge 5.35E–04 1.78E–02 −5.78E–03 −1.48E–01* Neighbor’s irrigated acres 1.70E–05 3.59E–05 −4.98E–05 −9.99E–04** Elevation 1.49E–04 −1.45E–04 1.69E–03*** 6.09E–03 Water demand intercept 1.12E–01*** 2.24E–02 1.15E–02 −4.14E+00*** Well dried up −1.59E–02 2.48E–02 −3.50E–02* 1.29E+00*** Acreage irrigated sq. −3.72E–07*** −5.13E–07 −9.20E–07*** −4.16E–07 Saturated thickness sq. 4.54E–06*** 4.65E–05*** 5.98E–06* 3.16E–04*** Lift sq. 1.19E–07 −4.03E–06 −7.92E–06 −1.43E–04* Hydraulic conductivity sq. 1.55E–10 −6.46E–10 −2.56E–10 −5.48E–09 Recharge sq. −9.18E–06 −2.29E–04 1.95E–04*** 2.10E–03** Neighbor’s irrigated acres sq. 2.15E–11 −1.85E–08 1.66E–08 3.53E–07** Elevation sq. −3.13E–08* 2.05E–08 −2.40E–07*** −7.82E–07 Observations 1,537 501 647 1,391 R2 0.2247 0.0875 0.1351 0.2194 Note: FT, flat tax; WMFT, water markets with flat tax quantities.
↵*, **, *** Variables significant at 10%, 5%, and 1%, respectively.
