VDM Verlag Acceptability of Market-Based Approaches to Water Management: An Analysis of the Deschutes Groundwater Mitigation Program

Growing urbanization, shifting water uses and a focus on ecosystem health in the Deschutes River Basin in Central Oregon led to experimentation with new voluntary market-based approaches to water management in the last decade. To meet groundwater demands while maintaining instream flows and upholding prior water allocations, the Oregon Water Resources Department implemented the Groundwater Mitigation Program (GMP) in 2002. This research assesses the acceptability of the GMP to its participants. The basis for analysis is the Institutional Analysis and Development framework (Ostrom, Gardner, and Walker 1994). To contextualize the acceptability of the current program, the research employs two hypothetical alternative institutional arrangements that bound the GMP and serve as comparators: 1) a complete moratorium on all groundwater pumping and 2) no institutional arrangement for groundwater in the Deschutes Basin. Primary data were collected through interviews and a postal survey that included open- and closed-ended questions. Data were gathered from a total of 111 respondents.