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- Title
The Convergence of Water Rights, Structural Change, Technology, and Hydrology: A Case Study of New Mexico's Lower Rio Grande.
- Authors
KIBEL, PAUL STANTON
- Abstract
Irrigated areas throughout the western United States are undergoing water rig/its adjudication. At the same time, agriculture is undergoing significant structural change, including increasing numbers of smaller, lifestyle-based farms. Today's remote-sensing technology makes it possible to accurately estimate evapotranspiration on individual fields and aggregate this information to basin-wide crop consumptive use. The difference between actual and theoretical consumptive use creates the potential for hydrologic deficits if the theoretical levels are adjudicated (e.g., established as rights) and then consumptively used. This article examines the implications of theoretical versus actual consumptive use and includes a case study of New Mexico's Lower Rio Grande region to illustrate the convergence of water rights adjudication and structural changes in agriculture. It also highlights recently introduced technologies for estimating consumptive use and explores the numerous hydrologic risks of adjudication based on theoretical, rather than actual or historic, consumptive use.
- Subjects
RIO Grande (N.M.); NEW Mexico; WATER rights; REMOTE sensing; HYDROLOGY; EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
- Publication
Natural Resources Journal, 2011, Vol 51, Issue 1, p95
- ISSN
0028-0739
- Publication type
Case Study