An Impact Assessment of Water Conservation Policy in Agriculture: the Arizona Groundwater Management Act of 1980

Water conflicts between urban and rural populations often center on water use in the agricultural sector. Public officials may select a water conservation policy as the primary tool for reducing agricultural water use with the goal to improve water availability to urban areas and future generations. The Groundwater Management Act of 1980 (GWMA) in Arizona was designed, in part, to induce water conservation in irrigated agriculture so that a desert state could sustain economic growth. This mixed-method evaluation design merges qualitative, interview-based information with state agency data and an estimated water demand function to assess the performance of the GWMA. The results of this study show that (1) the GWMA began with a flawed design and evolved through political pressure into a minor day-to-day water conservation tool, and (2) nearly all water use in Arizona’s agricultural sector from 1984-2002 can be explained by market factors with no evidence that the GWMA’s management plans directly contributed to reduced water demand. Since public water conservation efforts are rarely evaluated, this impact analysis may assist policy makers as they compare the expected costs and benefits of their current or proposed programs.

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