The Sacramento Delta: A Gordian Knot - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 204

CHAPTER 22
The Sacramento Delta: A Gordian Knot
Who needs water, how much water do they need, what do they need it for, and
where is it going to come from?
—Dr. Peter Gleick, the Pacific Institute, 2009
THE “AXIS RESOURCE”
Central to the production of food, energy, and minerals, water is considered an “axis re-
source.” As the demand for goods and services rises exponentially this century, compet-
ition for limited supplies of water will grow intense. Governments, industry, and indi-
viduals will be confronted by difficult questions, such as, how much water can, or should,
man take from the ecosystem? How will we use limited water supplies—for food, power,
or manufacturing—and what will the result be? Who makes these decisions; who bene-
fits, and who doesn't? In short, who controls the tap? These are knotty questions, and
their answers will have significant, long-term consequences for man and the planet.
Worldwide, irrigated agriculture, which accounts for about 70 percent of water with-
drawals, is by far the greatest water user. In California, the number is probably closer to
80 percent . In 2000 (the latest data available), California farmers used 34.3 million acre-
feet of water , about four times as much as the state's residential, commercial, and indus-
trial users combined.
Under the West's “law of beneficial use,” it is legal for farmers to divert water from
rivers, or pump it from aquifers, without paying for it as long as it is used “beneficially,”
a vague term that essentially sanctions water takings. Irrigation wells are rarely equipped
with meters, so there is little information about how much water is being used, and irrig-
ators, leery of “government intervention” in their affairs, resist attempts to find out. * But
without that essential information, it is difficult to manage water responsibly.
Many Western irrigation districts impose a flat rate, which allows farmers to use as
much water as they want. The Bureau of Reclamation subsidizes water, charging farmers
a small percentage of the actual cost of providing it. In the Imperial Irrigation District of
Southern California, farmers pay $15 per acre-foot, or $0.0006 per gallon, with no cap
on how much they use and no surcharge for higher use. With no financial incentive to