Ambition, greed and thoughtlessness are not the only reasons for wasteful water practices in the West, though history is replete with all three. Many say Western water laws themselves are partly to blame.
Unlike laws regulating water use in the eastern U.S., the West’s lifeblood is ruled on a first-come, first-serve basis. The philosophy is “use it or lose it.”
Hence, Las Vegas is having trouble securing Colorado River water because other states had claimed it first. Meanwhile, farmers often reserve more water than they need so it is there for future expansion.
The result is that water may be unavailable for newcomers.
During a drought, some users get all they want, while others go without.
“The water wasting has been evident since the beginning of the settlement of the West,” said James Deacon, an environmental studies professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “The doctrine of prior rights encouraged people to use as much as possible.”
The West’s “prior appropriation” laws differ from the so-called “riparian” system of water rights in the East, which essentially allows landowners to use whatever water flows past their doors.
The Western philosophy was established to entice pioneers and entrepreneurs to settle in the once-barren region.
But critics now call for reforms, saying the laws are unfair in a West that is growing and changing rapidly.
“The water laws were written in the 19th Century for a society in which they made perfectly good sense,” said Charles Wilkinson, a professor at the University of Colorado School of Law. “It doesn’t make sense anymore.”
More Top Picks Viewsonic M1 Portable