An economic analysis of different water supply policies under altered North Platte River hydrology profiles for Goshen Irrigation District

The North Platte River is prone to large variability and extended drought periods. Water use from the river is heavily regulated by the 2001 Modified North Platte Decree, which established procedures to better manage and account for water use to endangered species habitat, industry and irrigation. Under the Decree, North Platte Project irrigators can carry over water from one year to the next during drought periods. However, additional flexibility to store water across years could increase their profits. We use historical water use data (1980-2012) for Goshen Irrigation District (GID) in southeastern Wyoming to estimate the effects (profits and cropping patterns) on GID of increased storage flexibility. We also evaluate the benefits of different policies on GID under alternative hydrological scenarios. We find that benefits to GID of several policies modeled are significant, especially under hydrological scenarios with increased variability or decreased stream flows.