Optimal groundwater management when recharge is declining: a method for valuing the recharge benefits of watershed conservation

Climate Adaptation, Kimberly Burnett, Value of Watershed Conservation, Water Resources, Christopher Wada, Environment, Publications, Working Papers

Demand for water will continue to increase as per capita income rises and the population grows, and climate change can exacerbate the problem through changes in precipitation patterns and quantities, evapotranspiration, and land cover—all of which directly or indirectly affect the amount of water that ultimately infiltrates back into groundwater aquifers. We develop a dynamic management framework that incorporates alternative climate-change (and hence, recharge) scenarios and apply it to the Pearl Harbor aquifer system on O‘ahu, Hawai‘i.