Seventy per cent of purchased rights were given to the Park and 30% to small productive farmers who focussed on higher value activities like vine and vegetables. This mechanism triggered a shift in groundwater use and agricultural activities away from cereals, encouraged vines to be accounted for, and led to increased incentives for the enforcement of water rights. Still, the public cost of the program - estimated at 5000 M EUR for 2008-2027 -has been high and the program did not address the incentive structure of farmers pumping groundwater.