A Two-City Case Study in Transboundary Aquifer Management

摘要

The Middle Rio Grande (MRG) basin has been identified by the Bureau of Reclamation as an area of potentialrnfuture conflict because of inadequate water supplies. Climatic changes, increased populations, and increasedrndemands for water may exacerbate the problem. Improved management of these scarce water resources,rnwhich is necessary in reducing the stress on this system, may require novel approaches. This work focusesrnon the potential for coordinated management between cities situated along the MRG. Following Chermak,rnPatrick and Brookshire (2005) we develop a dynamic game theoretic model that considers not only thernbenefits of the individual agents under non-cooperative and cooperative management scenarios, but also thernimpacts on ground and surface water resources. This model will provide the theoretical basis for a systemsrndynamics model (SD) for Albuquerque, which relies on surface water augmented by ground water and RiornRancho, which relies on groundwater. From this model we will be able to consider the impact of coordinatedrnor cooperative management, compared to the status quo of individual management plans, under variousrnscenarios of population growth, drought, and incentives and consider the impact on the groundwater levelsrnas well as impacts on the Compact.