IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/isu/genres/12554.html

The Allocation of Nutrient Load Reduction Across a Watershed: Assessing Delivery Coefficients As an Implementation Tool

Author

Listed:
  • Feng, Hongli
  • Jha, Manoj
  • Gassman, Philip W.

Abstract

Delivery coefficients have long been used in economic analysis of policies that seek to address environmental problems like water pollution (Montgomery, 1972). However, the derivation and validity of delivery coefficients have not been examined carefully by empirical analyses. In this study, we derived estimates of delivery coefficients and then evaluated them as a bridge between complex biophysical models and economic policies. Specifically, delivery coefficients were first derived for the effects of nitrogen application reduction based on the simulation results of a watershed based model, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Nutrient load reduction responsibilities were then allocated to subwatersheds based on the delivery coefficients using four different allocation principles. We found that the allocations based on delivery coefficients achieved results that differed from the water quality goals by only a few percentage points in general. Moreover, our results indicated that potential cost savings, measured in percentages, outweighed the deviation from water quality goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Feng, Hongli & Jha, Manoj & Gassman, Philip W., 2006. "The Allocation of Nutrient Load Reduction Across a Watershed: Assessing Delivery Coefficients As an Implementation Tool," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12554, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genres:12554
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/papers/p5355-2006-03-24.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruce A. Babcock, 1992. "The Effects of Uncertainty on Optimal Nitrogen Applications," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 14(2), pages 271-280.
    2. Newell, Richard G & Stavins, Robert N, 2003. "Cost Heterogeneity and the Potential Savings from Market-Based Policies," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 43-59, January.
    3. Hung, Ming-Feng & Shaw, Daigee, 2005. "A trading-ratio system for trading water pollution discharge permits," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 83-102, January.
    4. Gassman, Philip W. & Reyes, Manuel R. & Green, Colleen H. & Arnold, Jeffrey G., 2007. "The Soil and Water Assessment Tool: Historical Development, Applications, and Future Research Directions," Hebrew University of Jerusalem Archive 10285, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Konrad, Maria Theresia & Hansen, Line Block & Levin, Gregor & Blicher-Mathiesen, Gitte & Andersen, Hans Estrup & Martinsen, Louise & Hasler, Berit, 2022. "Targeted regulation of nitrogen loads: A national, cross-sectoral analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Valcu, Adriana & Rabotyagov, Sergey S. & Kling, Catherine L., 2013. "Flexible Practice-Based Approaches For Controlling Multiple Agricultural Nonpoint-Source Water Pollution," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150450, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Qianwen Yu & Zehao Sun & Junyuan Shen & Xia Xu & Xiangnan Chen, 2023. "Interactive Allocation of Water Pollutant Initial Emission Rights in a Basin under Total Amount Control: A Leader-Follower Hierarchical Decision Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-25, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Feng, Hongli & Jha, Manoj K. & Gassman, Philip W., 2006. "Allocating Nutrient Load Reduction across a Watershed: Implications of Different Principles," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21131, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    2. Levi Marks, 2025. "A Sampling-Based Approach to Emissions Pricing," The Energy Journal, , vol. 46(6), pages 187-210, November.
    3. Yates, Andrew J. & Doyle, Martin W. & Rigby, J.R. & Schnier, Kurt E., 2013. "Market power, private information, and the optimal scale of pollution permit markets with application to North Carolina's Neuse River," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 256-276.
    4. repec:isu:genstf:201301010800004451 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Karen Fisher-Vanden & Sheila Olmstead, 2013. "Moving Pollution Trading from Air to Water: Potential, Problems, and Prognosis," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(1), pages 147-172, Winter.
    6. Ochoa, Vivian & Urbina-Cardona, Nicolás, 2017. "Tools for spatially modeling ecosystem services: Publication trends, conceptual reflections and future challenges," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 26(PA), pages 155-169.
    7. Holland, Luke M. & Doole, Graeme J., 2014. "Implications of fairness for the design of nitrate leaching policy for heterogeneous New Zealand dairy farms," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 79-88.
    8. Uribe, Natalia & Corzo, Gerald & Quintero, Marcela & van Griensven, Ann & Solomatine, Dimitri, 2018. "Impact of conservation tillage on nitrogen and phosphorus runoff losses in a potato crop system in Fuquene watershed, Colombia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 62-72.
    9. Chen Shi & Yujiao Xian & Zhixin Wang & Ke Wang, 2023. "Marginal abatement cost curve of carbon emissions in China: a functional data analysis," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 1-25, February.
    10. Burtraw, Dallas & Woerman, Matt & Paul, Anthony, 2012. "Retail electricity price savings from compliance flexibility in GHG standards for stationary sources," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 67-77.
    11. Francisco Rosas & Bruce A. Babcock & Dermot J. Hayes, 2011. "A Nonlinear Offset Program to Reduce Nitrous Oxide Emissions Induced by Excessive Nitrogen Application," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 11-wp521, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    12. Liu, Hongxing & Gopalakrishnan, Sathya & Browning, Drew & Sivandran, Gajan, 2019. "Valuing water quality change using a coupled economic-hydrological model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 32-40.
    13. Khyati Malik, 2026. "Farmer Adoption and Payment Design Under Risk: Variability in Soil Carbon Sequestration Across Conservation Practices," NBER Chapters, in: Risk and Risk Management in the Agricultural Economy, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Gregory R. Pautsch & Bruce A. Babcock & F. Jay Breidt, 1998. "Optimal Sampling Under a Geostatistical Model," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 98-wp200, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    15. Elisabeth Christen & Gabriel Felbermayr & Hans Pitlik & Franz Sinabell, 2026. "Options for Implementing the Polluter Pays Principle in Agriculture. A New Approach for the EU's Common Agricultural Policy," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 66595070.
    16. Zhang, Hui & Cao, Libin & Zhang, Bing, 2017. "Emissions trading and technology adoption: An adaptive agent-based analysis of thermal power plants in China," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 23-32.
    17. Pautsch, Gregory R. & Babcock, Bruce A. & Breidt, F. Jay, 1999. "Optimal Information Acquisition Under A Geostatistical Model," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 24(2), pages 1-25, December.
    18. Haiyan Liu & Roy Brouwer, 2023. "What is the future of water quality trading?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 41(1), pages 194-217, January.
    19. Egbendewe-Mondzozo, Aklesso & Swinton, Scott M. & Bals, Bryan D. & Dale, Bruce E., 2011. "Can Dispersed Biomass Processing Protect the Environment and Cover the Bottom Line for Biofuel?," Staff Paper Series 119348, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    20. Khor, Ling Yee & Zeller, Manfred, 2012. "Doubts on input quality: The effect of inaccurate fertilizer content on the estimation of production functions and technical efficiency," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126212, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    21. Olmstead, Sheila M. & Stavins, Robert N., 2008. "Comparing Price and Non-price Approaches to Urban Water Conservation," RFF Working Paper Series dp-08-22, Resources for the Future.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:isu:genres:12554. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Curtis Balmer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deiasus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.