Transcript

David Getches: If you want water today for another use, you have to buy it

A long time ago when our water rights system began, our predecessors made a decision that water rights were going to be a type of property. And once you staked your claim to water, put it to use on your farm or in a mine, that the water would be yours to continue using and in most states you have the right to transfer that away. Well, all the water in our rivers have been taken up that way. So if you want water today for another use, you've got to buy it, or it has to be in conflict with some fundamental public interest. We have regulatory statutes that keep you from fouling the water with pollution, for instance, or killing off a whole species of fish. But for the most part, the answer to the member of the public is, "Get involved and participate in processes to get the water reallocated." We talked about Klamath -- that is a perfect example of what we are struggling with throughout the West. It is a little microcosm. When the Klamath irrigation systems were built, not by Mr. Keys but his predesessors, their job was much easier than his. They were supposed to get water to lands for irrigation; they weren't supposed to think about Indian fishing rights; they weren't supposed to think about endangered species or recreation, God forbid, or any of those interests we care about today. Now he has to solve the problem, and it is going to take some mix of ingenuity and money because people have property interests in their right to use that water.

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