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New Study Measures Agriculture’s Water Footprint Across Colorado River Basin
Guest Authors: George Frisvold, Bartley P. Cardon Chair of Agribusiness Economics and Policy; Extension Specialist, UArizona Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics; Dari Duval, Economic Impact Analyst, UArizona Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
According to a new study published in Hydrology, Arizona counties have some of the lowest agricultural water footprints in the Colorado River Basin. Conducted by George Frisvold and Dari Duval of UArizona’s Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, the study estimated blue water footprints — the amount of irrigation water used to produce $1,000 worth of crops — across Colorado River Basin counties. The authors combined publicly available data from the US Geological Survey, USDA, US Department of Commerce, and US Department of Labor. In Lower Basin counties, it took 1.2 acre-feet of water on average to produce $1,000 worth of crops, while in the Upper Basin, it took 7.6 acre-feet. Counties in western Arizona and southern California had the lowest water footprints, followed by those in southern Arizona. Low water footprints mean that these counties generate more crop revenue per acre-foot of water than in other parts of the Basin. Crops in these low desert areas use more water per acre compared to other parts of the Basin, but the desert environment allows growers to produce higher yields and to grow high-value specialty crops. As the region faces water cutbacks, water conservation policies have emphasized compensated, voluntary reductions in agricultural water use. The results of the study can help identify where water conservation is least costly in terms of the value of foregone crop production or farm income.
Image: Courtesy of Dari Duval. The Blue Water Footprint (BWF) for crop production among Colorado Basin counties.
Read the Study
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