Semester of Graduation
Fall
Degree
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
In the United States, nearly 60 million acres of land is affected by water and soil salinity problems that pose a serious threat to the long-term economic and environmental viability of the agricultural sector. Understanding the economic impacts of soil salinity in agricultural lands is essential for planning farming practices in several salinity affected regions. This study presents a two-stage approach to assess the damage from salinity in two major aquifers in Louisiana. In the first stage, looking at the trend of rise in salt content within these aquifers, I predict the future level of salinity by assuming three different scenarios. In the second stage, I use the IMPLAN software to estimate the potential economic impact from the increasing level of salinity with and without using adaptive measures. If the damage is assessed 30 years from now, the results show that increased salinity can result in loss of more than $400 million in total output in the current value term. Furthermore, I find that adaptive measure using alternative cropping practices should be able to prevent a majority of this loss.
Date
10-24-2018
Recommended Citation
Dhakal, Rajan, "Economic Impacts of Groundwater Salinity in Louisiana" (2018). LSU Master's Theses. 4834.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/4834
Committee Chair
Paudel, Krishna P.
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_theses.4834