Applying Interconnected Game Theory to Analyze Transboundary Waters: A Case Study of the Kura-Araks Basin

A number of environmental problems are international in nature, including many water management issues. Rivers, for example, do not recognize political boundaries. Therefore, pollution generated in one country can affect neighboring countries, while water extraction in an upstream country can affect water flow and water availability in a downstream country. The situation creates an interdependency among countries, which might lead to disputes over the management of transboundary water. Therefore, coordination among the countries is necessary for effective management of these transboundary resources. The focus of a recently published study (Khachaturyan and Schoengold, 2018) is the transboundary Kura-Araks Basin (see Figure 1 for its location), which is a major river system in the South Caucasus, with about 11 million people living in the basin. The countries in the basin are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Turkey, with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia having over 80 percent of the streamflow. The Kura-Araks Basin is a primary source of water for agricultural, industrial, and municipal uses in the South Caucasian countries. The study determines whether there are economic benefits to be gained from cooperation in the management of the Kura River (shared between Azerbaijan and Georgia), and under what conditions cooperation is an achievable outcome. Azerbaijan withdraws about 35 percent of the total available renewable water resources while Georgia only withdraws about 3 percent

Estimating the Value of Irrigation Scheduling

The Northern High Plains (NHP) of Texas is home to more than a million acres of irrigated crop production. The area is dependent on the Ogallala Aquifer for irrigation water that has a very minimal recharge rate which is leading to diminishing water availability making the adoption of more water efficient irrigation practices such as irrigation scheduling critical to sustaining irrigated agriculture. Corn is by far the largest user of irrigation water in the NHP. The objective of this study was to estimate the value of irrigation scheduling for corn in NHP using three-year data from the “200-12 demonstration” that had both demonstration plots (optimal irrigation scheduling followed) and side-by-side control plots (farmers’ practices followed). Production per acre-inch of irrigation from the demonstration and control plots were compared to estimate the value of irrigation scheduling. Analysis of the data indicated adding irrigation scheduling resulted in a 9.72% increase in corn yield per acre-inch applied, which resulted in a $91.22 per acre increase in net returns. Although results from individual farms varied considerably, the economic advantage of irrigation scheduling decreased over time suggesting that the producers were learning from the demonstration and implementing similar irrigation scheduling practices on their remaining land