麻豆传媒

Calm Water

Economics Professor Mark Eiswerth seeks solutions to complex鈥嗏�斺�哸nd sometimes contentious鈥嗏�斺�唀nvironmental issues by considering human values and motives.

麻豆传媒 Environmental Economics Professor Mark Eiswerth, Ph.D., is a fourth-generation Coloradan from a family that includes loggers and ranch cowboys (his grandfather was one of the first geophysicists in the West). As an economist and co-director of 麻豆传媒鈥檚 Environmental and Sustainability Studies program, he鈥檚 acutely aware of how different values and interests affect quality of life and drive the economy.

Questions raised by the topic of environmental economics, which Eiswerth defines as 鈥渢he study of how environmental resources are鈥嗏�斺�哸nd should be鈥嗏�斺�哸llocated among competing demands,鈥� make for engaged discourse in his classroom. Eiswerth poses environmental conundrums and then gives his students free rein to dissect, discuss, explore and debate the options. 

鈥淲e talk about water in Colorado. We look at the forecasts. We look at some of the decisions being made,鈥� Eiswerth says.

Concerns about water use and conservation in a state that averages 15.5 inches of rain a year are complicated by those environmental economics鈥嗏�斺�哻ompeting demands between farmers and city dwellers, industrial users and recreationists. And it鈥檚 not going to get easier. The Colorado Water Conservation Board predicts there will be a 20-percent shortfall by 2050 when the state鈥檚 population is expected to reach 10 million. 

As a water resource economist, is Eiswerth alarmed? Outwardly not.

He鈥檚 concerned about the future, of course. But after nearly four decades of study, he鈥檚 still upbeat, open-minded and confident about the next generation鈥檚 problem-solving abilities鈥嗏�斺�哸nd he gives his students opportunities to practice.

鈥淚 try to teach them a little bit about how to facilitate a discussion among people with competing interests,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 say, 鈥楪od willing, you guys are going to be around a lot longer than I am, so I want you to be able to do these things after I can鈥檛.鈥欌�嗏�� 

鈥淚t鈥檚 important to learn how to be a citizen鈥嗏�斺�唎r to be a stakeholder鈥嗏�斺�唗hat鈥檚 the bottom line, because everybody drinks water. Everybody eats food. Everybody takes a shower.鈥�

Eiswerth鈥檚 doctoral research involved pollution impacts and pollution management decision-making.

He looked at how to mitigate damages when, for instance, deciding between dumping waste in a landfill or incinerating it. Neither is ideal. So how do you choose? It may not strictly be a monetary decision, he says. It鈥檚 also about environmental values and doing the least harm.

In the 30 years since, Eiswerth has studied problems coast to coast, applying his analytical skills across issues from water pollution to habitat. There鈥檚 an economic component to every conceivable problem, he says.

Sustainability experts grapple with big issues like how to cost-effectively secure, protect and allocate resources. But secondary impacts Eiswerth calls 鈥渆xternalities鈥� occur whenever we produce or consume goods and services. One externality of cheap, plentiful city water might be that homeowners overwater their lawns. It鈥檚 wasteful, of course, but it also could cause soil erosion or allow for pesticides and street pollution to enter waterways, degrading water quality for those downstream.  

Eiswerth studies what economists call 鈥減ayments for ecosystem services.鈥� Financial incentives, such as payments for water-based ecosystem services (PWES), could be the carrots that motivate farmers, who control 80 percent of the state鈥檚 water, to put in buffer strips around their fields to reduce runoff, or to limit pesticide applications, allowing them to return a higher quality of water to the stream. 

Eiswerth points out that one positive externality of getting even a single producer on board might be that neighboring farmers become interested, too. And that鈥檚 starting to happen. Worldwide, there are more than 400 such PWES programs in play, with several pilot projects in the U.S., including Colorado.

From a commodity perspective, water is interesting because its value depends on how it鈥檚 acquired and how it鈥檚 used. Cities, towns and developers are buying land with irrigation rights, then converting the water to municipal use. Utilities then set the price of water for residents, with some regulatory oversight.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a free-market system,鈥� explains Eiswerth. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more of a regulated monopoly, so the price isn鈥檛 determined fully by the laws of supply and demand.鈥� 

Admittedly, water law in Colorado is simple in theory and complex in practice. Colorado law specifies that once water is diverted away from agriculture, it can no longer be used to grow crops. Essentially, the farmland dries up鈥嗏�斺�唀ven in wet years when a city might have surplus water that it could lease back to farmers.

And the oil and gas industry has its own set of environmental and economic concerns about water used in fracking operations. The water is disposed of by injecting it deep into wells since chemical additives make it unusable for other purposes.

鈥淪omething I ask my students when we talk about water law is, 鈥楧o you think it should be changed?鈥� People are really split about this, and it鈥檚 a hard thing to answer because it鈥檚 so complex. There are a lot of barriers to changing laws,鈥� Eiswerth says.

鈥淚n the West, we have been working to develop various markets for water in order to allow for transfers and leases.鈥�

What intrigues Eiswerth is how future economists will tackle such problems. He鈥檚 enthusiastic about his field and the opportunities it presents to future graduates.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a need for people who are trained to think about these issues鈥嗏�斺�哸nd who want to think about these issues鈥嗏�斺�哸cross space and across time. You can go to Washington, D.C., or you can stay right here and use [economics] in government, business, nonprofit,鈥� he says.

With a bevy of students each semester to challenge him, he wholeheartedly believes in the next generation.

鈥淢y job is to figure out interesting ways to elicit other people鈥檚 values and preferences,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e all have ideas of what鈥檚 most important. I can鈥檛 play favorites in class. I鈥檓 happy if students go through class not sure exactly where I stand.鈥�

It鈥檚 relaxed and respectful dialogue that allows people to see things in new ways. It opens the door to shifts in perspective.

鈥淚鈥檓 not really looking to change minds,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 just trying to facilitate the process of discussion, discovery, and making wise collaborative decisions.鈥�

鈥揃etsy Lynch