The Association of Environmental and Resource Economics (AERE) Summer Conference occurs annually as an opportunity for academics and researchers to share their findings as they relate to the field of environmental and resource economics. This year, the AERE Summer Conference took place in Santa Ana Pueblo, NM from May 28th to May 30th. Savanna Craig, Research Analyst with WestWater Research based out of Fort Collins, had an opportunity to present her graduate research on water conservation pricing in Utah, and also attended several other sessions on all things water, from water rights and markets, to scarcity in drinking water.
The 2025 AERE Summer Conference consisted of over 500 academics and researchers and over 75 sessions on diverse topics within the environmental and resource economics field. Sessions were held on various water topics including general water, urban water pricing, water rights and markets, water pollution, drinking water scarcity, and water rivers and dams. Regarding her own research, Savanna provided insights on the adoption of tiered pricing for urban culinary water in Utah, and the efficacy of using price tools such as tiered water pricing as a conservation mechanism. At the extensive margin, tiered water pricing does not appear to have a significant effect on urban culinary water consumption, and though her research does not indicate that price tools are not effective, Savanna suggests that water managers should be cautious about using price tools to encourage water conservation.
Other insights collected throughout the conference addressed the price elasticity of demand for urban water, which some researchers found to be higher than expected, as well as the value of land, particularly farmland, as water rights are adjudicated. On this topic, researchers found that the value of farmland generally increases when water rights appurtenant to the land are adjudicated.
In addition to Savanna’s presentation, WestWater was featured at AERE in presentations from Texas A&M University and Montana State University, which featured transaction data from Waterlitix™. This shows that the work that WestWater does is relevant not only for water right holders and investors, but also in the academic world, and allows researchers to contribute to the space of cutting-edge science using our robust transaction data.