An area which depends upon ground water mining for a substantial proportion of its income can be viewed as facing three alternatives as its ground water becomes depleted: (1) it can develop more water through alternative sources of supply as improved natural recharge, importation and artificial recharge, and waste water reuse; (2) it can transfer water use to less consumptive, higher-yield applications such as high-yield crops or manufacturing processes; (3) it can incur reductions in income and in population because of migration. This research project seeks to develop an economic model which can be used to compare, from society's point of view, the first alternative and the third as responses to ground water depletion. Several conceptual models are developed that include migration, interbasin transfer, and ground water depletion. Some of the theoretical implications of the models are interpreted as they relate to the formulation of ground water resource pricing schemes. The report includes a section that discusses some of the implications of the research findings for local ground water management districts. The research methods being employed to develop projections of water requirements for the state of Kansas are called into question in another section of the report. (Modified author abstract)