What is Fair in Groundwater Allocation? Distributive and Procedural Fairness Perceptions of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

Abstract

Fairness perceptions can contribute to trust or distrust in a policy process. Under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) basins may limit groundwater extraction for users, including farmers. Using a 2017 survey of 137 farmers in Yolo County, we adapt a typology of fairness principles, previously applied to climate policy, to examine farmers’ fairness perceptions for groundwater allocation strategies and reconciliation options. Yolo farmers show clear preference for allocation by overlying land area and dispute reconciliation by the local Groundwater Sustainability Agency. Using ordered logit regression models, we find that positive procedural perceptions of SGMA predict both allocation and dispute resolution preferences. We find no evidence for self-interested bias in allocation preferences, but rather the contextual default for allocation (egalitarian) appears to drive current fairness perceptions. Insight into contextual norms and perceptions of the policy process can align allocation and dispute resolution decisions with stakeholder fairness assessments.

Keywords:

• Agriculture
• distributive justice
• fairness
• groundwater
• procedural justice
• water policy

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the Yolo County farmers who anonymously participated in our survey. We would also like to thank Tim O’Halloran and the Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, as well as Denise Sagara of the Yolo County Farm Bureau for their assistance and efforts in support of this research. Finally, we gratefully acknowledge survey assistance from Amanda DeMarco and our colleagues at Stockholm Environment Institute, including Susie Bresney, Vishal Mehta, and Chuck Young.

Disclosure statement

There are no conflicts of interest to report in the writing and publication of this dataset and manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Water for Agriculture Grant [2016-67026-25045].