Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
negotiated their water rights by going through the legal process to
clarify the annual volume of water they're entitled to under their
federally reserved water rights, and are an important factor in that
state's water marketing, he adds.
A Wealth Builder
Further entrenching water as a commodity and widening the chasm
between haves and have-nots, and between West and East, is the
fact that many water rights owners in the West see their water as
a source of real, lasting family wealth.
John Gandomcar, the modest Colorado developer and horse
farm rancher, is typical of many water rights owners in the West.
He considers his water rights an integral part of his wealth and
a future inheritance for his children. “I'm one of only fi ve own-
ers of water rights from a sizable reservoir in the mountains west
of Denver. One of those other rights holders is the Denver Water
Board, which serves metropolitan Denver. Those rights are impor-
tant and valuable from an ownership point of view, and I plan to
pass them on to my daughters,” says Gandomcar.
Idaho water rights owner Newcomb thinks much the same
about his water. After all, he says, water helped him, his father,
and thousands of others across the western United States develop
their lands and build wealth. The proof is in the rich farmland and
ranchland today in states like California, Idaho, Nevada, and Ari-
zona. The dams built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and sub-
sequent irrigation systems, many built by farmers and ranchers,
helped transform the high-elevation arid country into productive
land, says Newcomb.
“We have about three and a half million irrigated acres of land
in Idaho,” says Tuthill. “The value of each of those irrigated acres is
maybe $5,000. Without water, the value goes to almost zero.”
“Any time you own water, it's a wealth builder,” adds Newcomb.
“I am a strong believer that land—as long as you're not land poor—
will always have value because there's only so much of it. Water is
much the same, and water may have even more value because it
is diminishing in quantity. It's basically pure supply and demand. As
time goes on and there is less water, it becomes more valuable.
