The Influence of Groundwater Depletion from Irrigated Agriculture on the Tradeoffs between Ecosystem Services and Economic Returns

PLoS One. 2016 Dec 29;11(12):e0168681. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0168681. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

An irrigated agricultural landscape experiencing groundwater overdraft generates economic returns and a suite of ecosystem services (in particular, groundwater supply, greenhouse gases reduction, and surface water quality). Alternative land cover choices indicate tradeoffs among the value of ecosystem services created and the economic returns. These tradeoffs are explored using efficiency frontiers that determine the least value in ecosystem services that must be given up to generate additional economic returns. Agricultural producers may switch to irrigation with surface water using on-farm reservoirs and tail water recovery systems in response to groundwater overdraft, and this has consequences for the bundle of ecosystem service values and economic returns achievable from the landscape. Planning that accounts for both ecosystem service value and economic returns can achieve more value for society, as does the adoption of reservoirs though lowering the costs of irrigation, increasing groundwater levels, and reducing fuel combustion and associated GHG emissions from groundwater pumping. Sensitivity analyses of per unit value of ecosystem services, crop prices, and the groundwater and water purification model parameters indicate tradeoff among ecosystems service values, such as the use of a high-end social cost of carbon ultimately lowers groundwater supply and water purification value by more than 15%.

MeSH terms

  • Agricultural Irrigation / economics*
  • Carbon Dioxide / analysis
  • Conservation of Natural Resources
  • Ecosystem*
  • Groundwater* / chemistry
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Water Purification
  • Water Supply

Substances

  • Carbon Dioxide

Grants and funding

This project was supported by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and the US Geologic Survey of the 104b research grant program, US Department of the Interior. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. There was no additional external funding received for this study.