Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Rio Grande river basins expert Steve Mumme. “The pattern was
set, or at least metaphorically set, by the Los Angeles water district
when it started quietly buying up the Owens Valley and everything
in between . . . [William] Mulholland was the ultimate Southern
California water czar,” Mumme adds.
Behind- the- Scenes Agendas
When the Los Angeles Water Department bought up land along
the Owens River in the early twentieth century, ostensibly for a new
irrigation system for Owens Valley, reality wasn't as it seemed. Not
much has changed since then.
The real motivation—positive or negative—behind the actions of
various water rulers of today may not be obvious, either. Remember
WATER TALES
What happens when your neighbors' wells run dry?
A rancher in rural suburban Denver found out the pock-
etbook effect fi rsthand when he wanted to sell off some
of his land for development. He had potential buyers,
too. The only problem was that even though he owned
the rights to plenty of surface water on his property—
Colorado uses a prior appropriation approach to water—the local
water board would not allow him to use those water rights for the
development. Instead, he was forced to join the local water district
and pay approximately $200,000 for water taps for the properties
he planned to sell.
That water district was created when the aquifer level dropped
and many of the surrounding property owners' wells ran dry. The
district needed the water-rich rancher's participation, not for his
water, but for his cash to help pay for the neighborhood's water and
water infrastructure.
Footnote: Today the rancher still owns plenty of taps, and pays
his share of the district's infrastructure costs, but there isn't enough
water available to provide him with the full allocation he's entitled
to in accordance with the water rights he owns! Such is the world
of water in the arid Southwest.
