Effects of Flow Augmentations in the Snake River Basin on Farms Profitability

• Published in: Journal of the American Water Resources Association Vol. 44; no. 2; pp. 360 - 366
• Main Authors: Briand, G, Schuck, E.C, Holland, D.W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.04.2008; American Water Resources Association
• Subjects: basins; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; endangered species; Exact sciences and technology; farm profitability; fisheries management; flow augmentation scenarios; Freshwater; Hydrology. Hydrogeology; irrigated farms profitability; irrigation water; rivers; salmon; Salmonidae; simulation; smoltification; stream flow; threatened species; value of water; water allocation; water flow; water management; water policy; Water resources; water rights; Idaho; Snake River; United States; Snake River basin; USA, Snake R; USA, Idaho; USA, Idaho, Sawtooth Valley, Snake R; models; flow augmentation scenarios; water policy; simulation; North America; value of water; water rights; irrigated farms profitability; irrigation; discharge; water resource management; reclamation; streamflow; water allocation
• ISSN: 1093-474X; 1752-1688
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2007.00152.x

For over 10 years, several species of salmon have been identified as either threatened or endangered in the Snake River Basin of Idaho. The United States Bureau of Reclamation, in cooperation with the National Marine Fisheries Service, has proposed a variety of plans to increase stream flows in the Snake River Basin to facilitate movement by juvenile salmon smolts to the ocean. This research examines two of the flow augmentation plans proposed by the Bureau of Reclamation as well as two alternative plans, one founded purely on existing priority-based water rights and another geared toward minimizing the effects of flow augmentations on farms profitability. Results from a basin-wide model of agricultural production in the Snake River Basin, the Snake River Agricultural Model, present evidence that (1) older water rights are used towards production of less valuable crops, (2) flow augmentation scenarios have unequal effects on farms profitability across agricultural regions within the basin, and (3) irrigation water is valued from US$4 to US$59 an acre-foot.