1st Edition

Water Policy in Texas Responding to the Rise of Scarcity

Edited By Ronald C. Griffin Copyright 2010

    As a water-scarce state with deep cultural attachments to private property rights, Texas has taken a unique evolutionary path with regard to water management. This new resource surveys past and current challenges for managing both groundwater and surface water, telling a comprehensive story about water policy in Texas, and identifying opportunities for improving future governance. Texas is the U.S. state that has experimented most thoroughly with water markets. In Water Policy in Texas, experts from broad disciplinary perspectives describe and analyze Texas water laws and management agencies, and the practices of water marketing and rate making in Texas. They explore the unique cases of the Edwards and Ogallala aquifers, the science and policy of environmental water stewardship, the extensive history of formalized water sharing with neighboring states and Mexico, and the opportunities for harnessing new technologies that might aid in addressing scarcity. This multidimensional, interdisciplinary book will be a valuable resource for students and researchers of Texas water policy, as well as for water managers worldwide, particularly those working within contexts of water scarcity.

    Foreword by Larry R. Soward 1. Experiments in Water Policy 2. Texas Water Resources 3. Texas Water Law and Organizations 4. Texas Water Marketing and Pricing 5. The Edwards Aquifer: Hydrology, Ecology, History, and Law 6. The Importance and Problem of Freshwater Inflows to Texas Estuaries 7. Water for the Environment: Updating Texas Water Law 8. Whose Water Is It? The Evolution of Texas's Boundary Water Agreements 9. Ground Water Depletion in the Texas High Plains 10. The Role of Advanced Technologies in Tapping Unconventional Texas Waters 11. Water Management Guidance from Texas

    Biography

    Ronald C. Griffin is a professor of water resource economics in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University. He is the author of Water Resource Economics: The Analysis of Scarcity, Policies, and Projects.