Do Solar Powered Irrigation Systems (SPIS) Contribute to the Overexploitation of Groundwater Reserves

Introduction

The common argument against the utilisation of SPIS is that this technology goes hand in hand with overexploitation and eventually depletion of limited water resources such as groundwater. Concerns are based on the following reasoning: SPIS lead to free pumping and hence an overexploitation of groundwater reserves is inevitable or at least very likely.

From a resource economist perspective, this argument is known as the Herder Problem or “the Tragedy of the Commons”