http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2009/03/27/californias-water-bank-a-bank-with-nothing-to-lend/ Tapping experts in climate, geology, oceanography, ecology, sustainable development, global health, energy, food and water, State of the Planet captures stories of how the Earth works and how we can sustainably make our lives better. Fri, 24 May 2013 17:52:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2009/03/27/californias-water-bank-a-bank-with-nothing-to-lend/comment-page-1/#comment-111 Dan Stellar Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:10:07 +0000 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/water/?p=421#comment-111 Another interesting article on this topic. As you indicate, one important issue is how $275 per acre-foot of water compares with other uses of that water. If the farmer kept that water and used it to irrigate his own land, and food prices spiked, would he make more than $275? I would imagine so, but I’m not sure. To really get this to work, the price of selling water would have to be high enough to make it definitely worthwhile for the seller. This in turn could drive the buyer’s costs of inputs prohibitively high. Finding the “sweet spot” price may take several years to get right, allowing for all the market adjustments that will have to take place. I hope California has that long.

]]>