Back Talk
KATIE 0 CONNOR, FREESOLO COLLECTIVE
oo
What Will Drive the Water Conservation
of the Future?
,anetNeuman
The western states’ prior appropriation doctrine is
blamed for encouraging wasteful use of water and
discouraging conservation, especially in irrigated
agriculture. Indeed, I’ve leveled that charge myself.
The "use it or lose it" tenet encourages irrigators
to use water excessively to maintain legal rights to
the most water over time. Another requirement "beneficial use without waste" is more of a sound
bite than a concept with teeth. Waste is measured
by custom. If your practices are customary, even if
you are physically wasting water, you aren’t legally
wasting it. And if you improve your efficiency accomplishing "beneficial use" with less water your water right shrinks accordingly.
efficiency investments don’t
pay off. The USDA reports
that more than half of western
irrigated acres use traditional,
less-efficient systems.
The question is no longer just
how to "reform" western water
law to make it conservationfriendly. These days, the
challenge is a broader one:
expanding the efforts that are
already happening.
PRIOR APPROPRIATION: AN EXAMPLE
Senior Water User
1910 Water Right
Furthermore, some significant conservation efforts are
taking place in the west, in spite of traditional doctrine.
In some cases, conservation is happening with the
help of legal changes that allowwater users to use
or sell saved water. Conservation groups often fund
efficiency improvements in exchange for protecting
conserved water instream.
In other cases, larger economic forces inspire
conservation. For operations growing high-value crops,
it pays to invest in efficiency improvements: more
efficient water use results in higher productivity and
profits. However, according to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA), such practices are used by less
than 10 percent of irrigators. For smaller operations
growing lower-margin crops like alfalfa, expensive
More than anything, American agriculturalists
need to see water conservation not as an attack on
fdod sources and rural communities, but as one
more important metric to show they are among
the best and most efficient food producers in the
world. Then, producers, consumers, regulators and
conservationists will all be working toward the
mutually beneficial goal of wise water use.
But the prior appropriation doctrine’s perverse
incentives are only part of the problem. After all,
wasteful water use isn’t limited to the western states.
In the eastern U.S., where precipitation is usually
sufficient to meet crop needs, irrigated agriculture
is on the rise as farmers seek protection against
periodic drought. In eastern states,iwhich.adhere to
a reasonable use doctrine vastly different from prior
appropriation, almost half of all irrigation is done
using inefficient, traditional irrigation systems.
) 1970 Water Right
Upstream junior water
users may have to let water
flow by unused to ensure all
the downstream senior
water rights are
met first.
7first
Sen ior,water rights
priority in periods of
even if they are dow
other junior wat I ii
It really comes down to money.
Efficiencies are adopted when
it makes good economic sense, whether it’s because
a conservation buyer funds projects or the market
for agricultural products rewards investments. Old
subsidies that incentivized waste in tandem with the
prior appropriation doctrine must be replaced with
new subsidies that encourage.conservation, even if
this means that some low value crops may no longer
be grown in the driest parts of the country. University
extension programs and soil and water conservation
districts must make water conservation as much of
a priority in 2040 as soil conservation was in 1940.
Consumers must be engaged as well, perhaps through
labeling and certification programs that reward
water conservation similar to Forest Stewardship
Council certification of wood products, SalmonSafe certification ofwines, and Energy Star labeling
of appliances.
Junior Water User
-
First in time,,
first in right.
om
I I.UIU1.
Adapted from Oregon’s Water
Resource Department
freshwater 35