Water Economics and Politics Seminar Series
/ Water institutions and sector performance

Can alternative transfer mechanisms (ATMs) alleviate water scarcity?

Speaker: Asst. Prof. Andrew Ayres | University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), United States

Moderator: Prof. Djiby Thiam | Director: WPE – Water and Production Economics, University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa

Time: 16:00 South African Standard Time (SAST) | GMT +2

Topic: Increasing water scarcity in the American West is driving interest in reallocating more water from agriculture, where roughly 80% of water is consumed, to serve growing urban populations. However, agricultural irrigators often hesitate to sell water due to concerns over physical and pecuniary impacts in their local economies. Alternative transfer mechanisms (ATMs) are contracts designed to avoid these impacts by reallocating water when it is especially scarce, for example during drought, while maintaining agricultural production in other years. We study the effects of a fallowing-based ATM between a major water wholesaler and an agricultural district in southern California. Our findings highlight difficulties in contracting over water via fallowing and emphasise the importance of improved measurement techniques in designing water transfers.

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About the speaker: Andrew Ayres is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). His main areas of research include environmental and natural resource economics, institutional economics, applied econometrics, and water policy. The primary line of investigation considers how institutions (rules, norms, and regulation) are adopted and subsequently influence human behaviour and resource conditions in river basins. Much of his work concerns the governance of groundwater and surface water resources with a focus on the definition and evolution of property rights and other legal processes that affect water management, in particular water markets. Some of his recent work examines the efficiency and distributional implications of groundwater management, with a focus on water market dynamics and managing impacts from fallowed lands. Andrew was a Fulbright Fellow and worked in Germany on projects related to climate change, energy, river restoration, and water pricing. Andrew holds a PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a B.A. from Pomona College. More on Andrew Ayres website.

Seminar format:

  • Live online session on Microsoft Teams
  • Duration: 1 hour
  • Live presentation with Q&A session

Who should attend: This series is open to students and faculty from academic institutions across South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, policymakers, engineering and technical professionals, advocacy groups, NGO staff, and anyone with a keen interest in water economics and policy.

The UCT-UCR Seminar Series

This seminar is part of the UCT-UCR Seminar Series: Water Economics and Politics, a collaboration between the University of Cape Town (UCT) and University of California, Riverside (UCR). Subscribe to our mailing list to receive updates on upcoming sessions.

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