winter water: photo essay

As a themed post for the Holiday Season, I thought I'd share winter water photos I've taken at various project locations. The first image won 1st place "Best of the West" at this year's AWRA conference. Also notice portions of this image resemble the banner for this blog.

In short, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

understanding a water drop

Not exactly pertaining to water rights or water markets, but I liked it so much, I thought I would share anyhow. If nothing else, just a great perspective of this wonderful and dynamic resource: water.

impact of water prices

First, I'd like to thank Aquanomics and waterwired for drawing my attention to this one. Even though the importance of water pricing has been previously discussed by these super bloggers, I still thought it deserved more than a retweet.

My thoughts are.....exactly! Price reflects the importance of an asset. As in other markets, price is the first indicator our quality (see image above). Asir says it best: "The problem we have is not scarcity but mismanagement." Price is one of the first tools we should utilize to better manage this resource.

Not to confuse the connotation of price, but price also represents an inexpensive alternative water conservation. For example, which is less expensive:

1. Raise water prices in Las Vegas?

2. Build a water pipeline from the Mighty Mississippi to Las Vegas?

protecting senior water rights in colorado

It appears Colorado is very serious about protecting senior water rights. My take is..... I agree with the state's decision 100%. We must exercise this level of discipline to define and protect private property rights.

charting (marketing) our water future

As many water blogs and tweets have recognized, McKinsey and Company has recently released its report Charting Our Water Future - produced for the 2030 Water Resource Group. The report does a good job of depicting the future water gap (above), and evaluating opportunities to reduce the gap (below). This post, not surprisingly, focuses on the reports limited recognition of water market design.

I have to admit, I was disappointed in the lack of emphasis on water markets in the report. In my opinion, water markets easily address two of the three options to close the supply and demand gap.

1. Increasing productivity from shifting water from low valued uses to high valued uses.
2.Reducing demand by eliminating water uses of low economic value and encouraging water efficiency.

In all fairness, the report does provide a few paragraphs on market design near the end (page 130) of the report. But, a few paragraphs in a 198 page report? Come on, where is the love?

Regardless, here are the highlights:

"There is ample evidence from across the world—from Mexico and Chile to Australia and Spain—that countries with different levels of development and institutional capacity can, when pressed by fiscal or resource constraints, design market mechanisms that achieve a more effective management of water resources."

"The staged development of Australia’s water sector reform shows an example of a path forward. The establishment of water rights and trading mechanisms for the Murray Darling Basin created the price signals needed to incentivize major shifts to high-value crops. This market improved agricultural productivity in Australia by 36 percent from 2000 to 2005, protected and created industries, and developed a large financial water market (worth $1.7 billion in 2007-08)."

"Certain countries already have formal institutions that are capable of market-based water allocation systems. Such countries have further options, ranging from water banks, where water is sold at “cost-plus” in a clearinghouse of buyers and sellers, to spot markets, where price is set by a market of buyers and sellers who post offers and requests for water on bulletin boards of local irrigation offices or via the internet."

water bank slideshare

You Can Bank on It: Utilizing private water banks to mitigate groundwater development

View more presentations from Lotc Water Marketing .

This slidesshare illustrates my vision for private water banking. The slides are taken from my presentation at the AWRA 2009 Annual Conference in Seattle, WA. Due to my presentation style, this slide sequence probably won't tell the whole story, nevertheless, you should still get the gist.

Do private water banks represent a silver bullet? No. Do they provide provide a market tool and opportunity to address future water problems? Absolutely.