Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
6
CHAPTER
AMERICA'S WATER GODS
When it comes to the water gods—the courts—are the mitigators.
—Bruce Newcomb, former speaker of the
Idaho Legislature (1998-2006) and
longtime Idaho rancher
B
ow to those who control the water, for they decide who gets it
and who doesn't. Unfortunately, that's the current reality. Those
who control the water, and their actions (or inaction), decide the
fate of water across the country. Outside of the courts, they often
interpret how the laws are carried out, and they execute the adjudi-
cations, court rulings, laws, and numbers. They know how to work
within the existing water laws that determine whether a developer
gets water to build his community, a farmer is entitled to enough
water to sate his livestock or fi elds, or a city gets the water its resi-
dents need to live an unrestricted life water-wise.
Those with water power can be groups or individuals: some
head water-governing agencies, some are water engineers, some are
skilled private citizens, perhaps politicians or public fi gures, and
others just maneuver behind the scenes. Some do so for the good
of the community and Earth's resources; others have some other
agenda—private or otherwise. These are the water elite.
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