Water Marketing in Texas: Opportunities for Reform
![handle is hein.journals/narj32 and id is 283 raw text is: RONALD C. GRIFFIN*
FRED 0. BOADU*
Water Marketing in Texas:
Opportunities for Reform
ABSTRACT
Surface water marketing, as it is conducted in Texas, is assessed
to identify areas of success as well as those meriting improvement.
Overall, surface water markets have assisted the State in responding
to changing conditions, but policy revisions are needed to repair the
deficiencies of existing institutions. Concerning the extension of mar-
ket policy to groundwater management, it is argued that the absolute
ownership doctrine employed for Texas groundwater should be re-
moved in favor of a market-oriented groundwater code derived from
surface water law and experience. Recommendations for modifying
both surface water and groundwater law are offered.
The research on which this paper is based was financed in part
by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (TA-30152) and the
Department of Interior (United States Geological Survey Award Num-
ber 14-08-0001-G]725).
I. INTRODUCTION
Although it may seem distasteful, perhaps even alarming, to the un-
initiated, there is a strong ideology indicating that water is better managed
as an economic commodity than as either a political issue or an admin-
istrative object.' On the other hand, it seems inadvisable to employ the
purist notion of a free market, due to special circumstances relating
to water.2 These special circumstances imply that an unfettered market
structure cannot be relied upon to advance social objectives in many
cases. As a result, some administrative control and structure must be
placed upon water marketing if such marketing is to serve society broadly.
Buying and selling surface water rights has long been possible in Texas,
at least in theory, although the practice is confined to the last 20 years.
*The authors are associate professor and assistant professor with the Department of Agricultural
Economics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.
1. There is extensive literature on water marketing in the United States. For economic perspectives
on water marketing, see T. Anderson, Water Rights: Scarce Resource Allocation, Bureaucracy, and
the Environment (1983). Also, see various articles in 29 Nat. Res. J. (2)(1989).
2. Some economists disagree that these are sufficient grounds for limiting market influence. See,
for example, T. Tregarthen, Water in Colorado: Fear and Loathing of the Marketplace in Anderson,
supra note I.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/narj32&div=23&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Water Marketing in Texas: Opportunities for Reform
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