Transcript

David Getches: Today's needs are all challenges to a doctrine that was formed in another era . . . there is no single priority.

Priority of water in the west is a changing thing. What it was in the 1800's is manifested in the prior appropriation doctrine, and today we still have that doctrine with us but we have many more purposes to serve -- public purposes, fish, wildlife, recreation, satisfying the needs of ecosystems -- and those are all challenges to a doctrine that was formed in a another era. Meanwhile, those purposes that were satisfied well with prior appropriation -- agriculture and mining -- are well established. The west has been settled, and that was the primary underlying motive for the doctrine. Now we have this rapid urbanization and that has to be accommodated, so there are many new challenges; there is not a single priority.

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