Deep Waters

Climate change has led to variations in water access across the world. At the same time, the rapid growth of population and urbanization has led to the fast depletion of water resources including (non-renewable) underground reservoirs. If we do nothing, we know that most of these reservoirs will be depleted in the next few decades. However, we know very little about the economic consequences of such depletion and what are the optimal strategies to prevent the worst outcomes.

We collect data on global underground and surface resources and use frontier scientific methods to determine how climate change and human water use will affect their availability in the coming decades. We can use this model to simulate water availability in different locations of the earth depending on water consumption. We built a general equilibrium spatial model where water is a key input of production on various sectors of the economy. The model allows us to discuss the externalities generated by the use of shared water resources and the importance of infrastructure projects that expand water access or regulated that limit its use.

The model helps us estimate the economic impact of different scenario of water depletion. Different polities taken today by different governments around the world would produce different scenarios of water depletion, and we can assess the costs in those scenarios.