Author(s): Jose A. Gomez-Limon; Carlos Gutierrez-Martin; Nazaret M. Montilla-Lopez

Linked Author(s): José A. Gómez-Limón

Keywords: Water allocation regime; Cyclical scarcity; Security-differentiated water rights; Economic efficiency; Guadalquivir River Basin (Spain)

Abstract: This paper assesses the potential efficiency gains of reforming the water rights regime in the Spanish agricultural sector by replacing current allocation procedures based on the proportional rule with a priority rule establishing security-differentiated water rights. This assessment is useful for evaluating whether said change in water rights can be considered a suitable policy instrument to improve water management during cyclical scarcity events (i.e., droughts). For this purpose, a mathematical programming model is built to simulate the performance of the proposed reform, taking the Guadalquivir River Basin (southern Spain) as an illustrative case study. The results obtained show that this change in the water allocation regime would yield moderate economic efficiency gains, justifying its implementation in a real-world setting.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3850/IAHR-39WC252171192022849

Year: 2022