9311305 HARRIS This research tests the theory that exclusive water use rights prevent sustainable resource use. The project examines the socioeconomic and hydrological consequences of a water law enacted in 1990 to promote sustainable groundwater use on Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The research will investigate whether the water law is accomplishing its purpose, or whether it instead is inadvertently preventing sustainable groundwater use by protecting exclusive rights while imposing monitoring costs and encouraging institutional links between water users' associations. The investigator will collect interview and archival data from two towns with different ecological, hydrological, and social contexts. The research will make an important contribution to scientific knowledge about the impact of water use laws on social behavior and therefore on the capacity of such a law to bring about a desired result. ***
