Here We Go...

My brother suggested that I start a blog to update on how my graduate research is going so I can have a record of what I've done down the road (hopefully after the diploma is in hand!) However, this blog will not totally revolve around my research, but shall serve as a place to jot down my thoughts, ideas, etc just like many other blogs. This will also be where I record my experiences as I participated in a study abroad opportunity to Benin in West Africa.

It's hard to believe that today is already July 1st! The summer is flying by as I continue to work on my graduate research. Ultimately I am studying the trades and pools of groundwater that have occurred in the region of interest to determine if they are consistent with the published literature on water trading. I am working with a very unique data set of irrigation groundwater use from the Upper Republican Natural Resource District (NRD) in western Nebraska. And as you may know, Nebraska relies heavily on irrigation to produce all that corn (they are the Cornhuskers after all!).

This NRD is of specific interest due to its participation in the Republican River Compact between Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska. The Compact was signed in 1942 as an agreement on water usage in the Republican River Basin. The Compact outlines how much water each state is allowed to divert or use for irrigation purposes. In 1998, Kansas filed a complaint against Nebraska claiming that Nebraska was using more than its allocation due to the amount of groundwater pumped for irrigation. The three states (Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska) worked together to create a Final Settlement Stipulation in 2003 which stated that groundwater use should be included in the measurement of usage from each state as the water is hydrologically connected, Nebraska would put a moratorium on the installation of new wells to match that of Kansas and Colorado, and many other technical details regarding the Republican River Basin.

Nebraska went a step further to require that all wells in the basin be metered and monitored to ensure compliance with the Compact and Settlement. The Upper Republican NRD provides a unique data set because the wells have been metered and monitored since the 1980s and fields with wells have had their irrigation acres certified and recorded at the NRD. The proactive nature of the Upper Republican NRD has provided a data set of over 30 years of usage, trades and pooling information. Once again, I will be using this data and a program developed at the University of Illinois to examine if the behavior of producers in the region participating in trades and pools is consistent with the literature on water trading.

Ever wonder why there were green circles covering the ground as you flew over Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, etc? They are the result of center pivot irrigation systems similar to the one pictured below. The crops are irrigated as the arm of the system rotates around using water either from a groundwater well or river diversion.

Center Pivot Irrigation System

Now if that doesn't peak you interest, check back soon for exciting updates on the district's descriptive statistics such as the average number of wells per owner :)