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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Spatial And Temporal Intricacies Of Natural Resource Use: Studies In Water, Forests, And Hydrocarbons, Dadhi Adhikari
Spatial And Temporal Intricacies Of Natural Resource Use: Studies In Water, Forests, And Hydrocarbons, Dadhi Adhikari
Economics ETDs
This dissertation examines spatial and temporal impacts of natural resource use. The second chapter integrates hydrological and economic systems to examine the impact of drought on these two systems and explores the spatial impact of policies aimed to mitigate the drought impact. The systems dynamics model developed for this chapter simultaneously considers the physical hydrology in the Middle Rio Grande water basin in New Mexico, the engineered water management system, and a behavioral model of residential water demand for three cities: Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. The simulation results showed that droughts that occur in later periods, …
Economic Analysis Of Infrastructure Investment And Irrigation Budget Issues In A Southwestern U.S. Water Utility, Heidi Pitts
Economic Analysis Of Infrastructure Investment And Irrigation Budget Issues In A Southwestern U.S. Water Utility, Heidi Pitts
Economics ETDs
The three chapters of this dissertation investigate two policy issues faced by water utilities: infrastructure investment and water budget programs. Water utilities have infrastructure that is deteriorating at an increasing rate, necessitating higher rates of investment from ratepayers. At the same time utilities must improve their management of existing water supplies in order to postpone the need to procure water supplies with a higher marginal cost. Water budgets are a way to manage scarce water resources more efficiently. The first chapter focuses on customer preferences for infrastructure investments. Individuals are willing-to-pay to have fewer outages at home, shorter average outage …