Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Comparative Analysis of Arizona and Texas Groundwater Institutions

博士论文研究：亚利桑那州和德克萨斯州地下水机构的比较分析

• 批准号: 1302139
• 负责人: Carl Bauer
• 金额: $ 1.6万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-06-15 至 2015-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1302139&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Comparative; Analysis

This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the factors that promote and hinder the effectiveness of different approaches to governing groundwater pumping in the context of rapid urban growth and competing water demands. As cities in the Western U.S. continue to grow and water demands increase, questions regarding the reallocation of already over-allocated water supplies are becoming increasingly critical. Despite some achievements in conservation, policy results have been uneven and often have been unable to bring long-term aquifer declines under control. It therefore is important to evaluate approaches to governing groundwater in order to identify important weaknesses and propose reforms. This research project will compare the more localized groundwater districts and Edwards Aquifer groundwater cap-and-trade system in Texas to the more centralized, permit-based Arizona approach. Paying special attention to the different institutions (systems of working rules) that shape human use of water resources, this doctoral student will investigate how groundwater districts manage groundwater in two major Southwestern metropolises, Phoenix and San Antonio. The three main questions on which this project will focus are: (1) How do the institutional arrangements in centralized and decentralized groundwater governance systems produce differences in the incorporation of new groundwater uses and management of conflicts? (2) How does market-based trading compare to administrative permitting in the reallocation of groundwater from rural to urban users? (3) How important are groundwater districts for controlling aquifer depletion relative to state laws, state administration, and regional political economic factors? Documentary evidence will consist of relevant water rights laws and court cases, regulatory statutes, records of rulemaking by groundwater districts, and media reports on water-related issues and conflicts. Historical water-trading and permitting data will also be collected, and interviews will be conducted with numerous stakeholders. The student will triangulate among these different sets of evidence, comparatively analyzing the planning and decision-making processes, incidence and management of groundwater conflicts, frequency and type of rulemaking, and frequency and amount of rural to urban water reallocation for the districts in the two metro areas.This project's analysis of the Phoenix and San Antonio cases will help explain failures to alleviate groundwater overdraft and identify laws and policies that might be worth copying or not by other states. By comparing centralized and local groundwater districts, permit-based systems and market-oriented ones, this project will contribute to academic and policy debates about the merits of decentralized governance and the degree of "fit" of different organizational forms for managing common pool water resources. The project also will highlight negative socioeconomic impacts on rural communities that can result from the reallocation of water from rural to urban uses. Findings will be disseminated through scholarly publications as well as through documents developed for stakeholders. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this project will provide support to enable a promising student to establish an independent research career.

本博士论文研究项目将研究在城市快速发展和水资源需求竞争的背景下，促进和阻碍管理地下水抽水的不同方法的有效性的因素。随着美国西部城市的不断发展和水需求的增加，关于重新分配已经过度分配的水供应的问题变得越来越重要。尽管在保护方面取得了一些成就，但政策结果参差不齐，往往无法控制含水层的长期下降。因此，必须评价管理地下水的方法，以便找出重要的弱点并提出改革建议。该研究项目将比较德克萨斯州更局部的地下水区和爱德华兹含水层地下水限额与交易系统与更集中的、基于许可的亚利桑那州方法。特别关注不同的制度（工作规则系统），塑造人类利用水资源，这名博士生将调查地下水区如何管理地下水在两个主要的西南大都市，凤凰城和圣安东尼奥。本项目将关注的三个主要问题是：(1)集中式和分散式地下水治理系统的制度安排如何在纳入新的地下水使用和管理冲突方面产生差异？(2)在地下水从农村向城市用户的再分配中，市场交易与行政许可相比如何？(3)相对于国家法律、国家行政和区域政治经济因素，地下水区对控制含水层枯竭有多重要？书面证据将包括有关的水权法律和法庭案件、监管法规、地下水区制定规则的记录以及媒体对与水有关的问题和冲突的报道。还将收集水交易和许可的历史数据，并与众多利益相关者进行访谈。学生将在这些不同的证据之间进行三角测量，比较分析两个都市区的规划和决策过程、地下水冲突的发生率和管理、规则制定的频率和类型，以及农村到城市水重新分配的频率和数量。本项目对凤凰城和圣安东尼奥案例的分析将有助于解释在缓解地下水透支方面的失败，并确定哪些法律和政策值得其他州借鉴或不值得。通过比较中央和地方地下水区、基于许可的系统和以市场为导向的系统，本项目将有助于学术和政策辩论，探讨分散管理的优点以及管理公共池水资源的不同组织形式的“适合”程度。该项目还将强调将农村用水重新分配给城市用水可能对农村社区产生的负面社会经济影响。调查结果将通过学术出版物以及为利益攸关方编写的文件传播。作为博士论文研究进步奖，该项目将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个独立的研究生涯。