Transitioning out of Open Access: A Closer Look at Institutions for Management of Groundwater Rights in France, California, and Spain

Many regions around the world are transitioning out of open access to groundwater resources in order to tackle over extraction by irrigated agriculture. However, the state has limited capacities to regulate effectively agricultural groundwater use. This paper evaluates how users and public authorities can co‐manage groundwater extraction by agriculture. Based on Schlager and Ostrom’s “bundle of rights” framework, the paper examines how decisions over access and use of groundwater resources are made in France, Spain and California. The three cases share a common strive to involve groundwater users in decisions over how to reduce over extraction of groundwater resources. However, different choices were made regarding the institutional set‐up for user involvement in allocation decisions. The paper presents the diversity of institutional arrangements influencing groundwater allocations in the three cases, and the relative involvement and power of users and public authorities over these institutions. The papers show the different ways in which “comanagement” may be made operational for managing agricultural groundwater use.