Water rights to water power, quickpost
Quickpost: There's another competitor emerging to the recent plans by Mr. Million (the name is not a joke, but how suitable); a new group is proposing an alternate pipeline transfer plan between the Colorado River basin and Front Range cities. [This story courtesy of John Fleck's connections.] Colorado has already perfected water the--, er, inter-basin water transfers, as seen in the map. How much longer before we're all living in some simulacrum of nature? Is there such thing as a natural river anymore?
Most of my attention this past year has been focused on individuals with water rights, or the community's access and rights to water (acequias), in New Mexico. But this is what happens when states and large metropolitan areas increasingly assert their own allocations and "paper rights" to "wet water." It's also how paper rights translate to power in a basin. And this kind of pipe-rattling does little to benefit interstate diplomacy for river compats. So I'll ask the not so rhetorical question once again: It may be legal, but is it right?
Most of my attention this past year has been focused on individuals with water rights, or the community's access and rights to water (acequias), in New Mexico. But this is what happens when states and large metropolitan areas increasingly assert their own allocations and "paper rights" to "wet water." It's also how paper rights translate to power in a basin. And this kind of pipe-rattling does little to benefit interstate diplomacy for river compats. So I'll ask the not so rhetorical question once again: It may be legal, but is it right?
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