Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2006TX223B

Impacts of Texas Interbasin Water Transfers on the Water Dependent Economy and the Environment

Institute: Texas
Year Established: 2006 Start Date: 2006-03-01 End Date: 2007-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $4,984 Total Non-Federal Funds: $17,161

Principal Investigators: Cai Yongxia, Bruce McCarl

Project Summary: Interbasin water transfers shifting water to deficient regions is widely discussed option for addressing Texas water scarcity problems. Water transfers can have unforeseen or negative impacts on the basins involved in terms of the regional economy and the environment including water quality. An evaluation of these effects is required by Texas legislation and rules but as of yet such evaluation has not been done. This project will develop a methodology to evaluate the effects of proposed water transfers on the economic, hydrologic, environment and water quality in Texas. The core of the evaluation system will involve use of a model being developed under an ATP project that integrates Water Rights Analysis Package (WRAP) model, and the Edwards Aquifer Groundwater and River System Simulation Model (EDSIMR), in the context of the statewide TEXRIVERSIM economic and water quantity simulation model to develop a methodology for examining proposed interbasin transfers. TEXRIVERSIM integrates stochastic flow balance, instream flow, reservoir storage, climate effects on agricultural and non-agricultural water demand, agricultural crop dryland / irrigation system choice, twenty-four riverbasins across Texas, aquifer water levels, costs and capacity of proposed water transfer projects etc. The project will use TEXRIVERSIM in conjunction with and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to evaluate select water transfers proposed in the Senate Bill 1 documents to evaluate the effects of proposed water transfers on the economic, hydrologic, environment and water quality in Texas.