Water banking
Water banking is the practice of forgoing water deliveries during certain periods, and “banking” either the right to use the forgone water in the future, or saving it for someone else to use in exchange for a fee or delivery in kind. It is usually used where there is significant storage capacity to facilitate such transfers of water.
In Spain water banking was given a legislative basis by the 1999 Water Law. The socialist government elected in 2004 planned to create a public water bank in each hydrographical basin as part of its AGUA programme.[1] This would allow historical water resources to be re-allocated according to "criteria of equity, efficiency, and sustainability".[2]
In the United States, water banking is typically regulated and managed at the state level.
References
- ↑ There are a total of 15 Basin Agencies in Spain for rivers that flow through more than one autonomous community.
- ↑ Font, N., and J. Subirats. 2010. Water management in Spain: the role of policy entrepreneurs in shaping change. Ecology and Society 15(2): 25. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss2/art25/
This article incorporates public domain material from the Congressional Research Service document "Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition" by Jasper Womach.