500 acres of cotton or water for school kids?
The water wars in the weststarted heating up in 2014. The news and “drought shamming” celebrities are late to the party. In Texas in 2014, farmers, including a 500 acre cotton farmer, were told they did not have access to the River Brazos for their crop, but did not restrict the use of cities along the river a well, saying public safety trumps water law principles. The same year in California, a 1200 acre vegetable operation is only going to plant 400 acres because of water reduction. In Southern Texas, rice farmers have not had water for 4 years, while Austin continues to consume more and more water. In Nevada, the reservoirs are so low, residents talk about “bath tub rings” around the holding lakes, the record low level expose shore and side wall that haven’t seen the sun in a long time.
Nevada and Utah are at odds over shipping water across borders, Kansas is not upset at Colorado Nebraska about leaving the Big 12, but rather about diverting water from the Republican River that is apportioned to Kansas. Texas and New Mexico are in front of the Supreme Court about water usage.
That vegetable farm that is 2/3ds idle won’ t have excess produce to donate to local food shelters as it has in past, nor will it employ as many people. Low lakes means low boating numbers, which cuts into tourism dollars. The laws in the Western States are set up to cause conflict. For example, in some states you can pump as much as you want from under your ground , but if your neighbor pumps it out first, you have no recourse absent a court order. When your neighbor is a new sub development with a passion for orderly neat patches of lush Kentucky blue grass, washed cars and golf courses in a desert , it doesn’t take a fortune teller to see what is coming.