Water scarcity and the West.
Water is a scarce and highly prized commodity in the arid Western states. Not surprisingly, water policy creation is very much a challenge for a number of reasons. Citizens hold multiple water values such as economic development and the protection of wildlife which are often contradictory. State prior appropriation laws are not easily reconciled with federal reserve rights and the public trust doctrine. There are multiple governmental and nongovernmental actors who work to influence and implement policy in a decentralized political system. If actors lose a policy battle in one decisionmaking arena (such as a legislature), they often try to influence policy at another venue (a court, Congress or an agency). Policymaking involves water issues that are dynamic over time. Furthermore, there are several types of water policy (distributive, allocative, redistributive and cooperative) that vary according to who pays costs and receives benefits, the level of conflict, the openness of decision- making to interested parties, and the level of government which dominates. Long ago, Mark Twain was correct when he said “Whiskey’s for drinking, water’s for fighting about.” © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
In the arid Western states, water has always been an important resource. For over 100 years, federal and state governments and local water users have worked to provide water to agriculture, industry and residents. Since 1902 the Bureau of Reclamation alone has spent $21.8 billion to construct 133 water projects (Western Water Policy Review, 1998, p. 2–9). The tremendous population growth of Western states has created increased demands for water. As the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission (1998, p. 2–13) com- mented, “The west’s water is made to work incredibly hard.”
Water is often used as a tool of