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Economic Impacts Of Irrigation Technologies In The Sevier River Basin, Theodore R. Frickel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The economic well-being of the semi-arid intermountain area requires efficient use of available water supplies. Agriculture, the major water-consuming industry, depends on irrigation water. The adoption of sprinkler systems that increase irrigation "efficiencies" and increase water available for irrigation upstream may interfere with the "tenure" of downstream water rights. The farmers would like to use the water saved to irrigate additional acreages or crop to provide greater profits.

The problem in letting farmers expand their irrigated acreage is that the individual farmer increases his profits through increased consumptive use. The consequent reduction in return flows reduces the water available to …