Everyone gets that wasting water is wrong. In many states low on water, it’s actionable, even illegal. But what exactly does the term waste mean?
Tomorrow, I argue a case in the Colorado Supreme Court on the doctrine of waste and who may complain about the inefficient use of water and its consequences. For obvious reasons, I won’t get into a discussion of the case, but suffice to say, if it gets to a state Supreme Court, people pay attention to the wasting of water.
Over-application of irrigation water led to the salinization of agricultural lands in Mesopotamia that contributed to the collapse of empires. More recently Soviet era mismanagement of water led to the drying (and toxification) of the Aral Sea in what is now Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Mismanagement has consequences.
Wise water management is key to ensuring water for the nation’s expanding water demand. I’ve previously written on the dramatic demands projected for water to supply energy and cooling demands of datacenters and the growing AI field. Those demands are competing with the impact of an exponential increase in the world’s population and its resulting demand for water needed to generate energy, food, and all the amenities that will be needed.
Water management is largely local and when I say local, I mean state and local, not federal. The federal government has a limited role in the water field and for good reason. Every state’s water issues are unique and the very last thing that would be productive is to inject politics and Washington into local water planning. This has largely been understood by Washington and the preamble to nearly every piece of federal water and natural resource legislation is a caveat that federal law is not intended to usurp state laws on water allocation and use. Instead, the federal government has largely played a productive role as data provider, information resource, and source of scientific expertise.
Wise management of water is to identify, develop, and regulate water so that it is available now and for future generations. To do that, techniques and regulations that encourage conservation and avoidance of pollution are the goalposts. Historically, that has not entailed allocating benefits based on subjective opinions of what uses of water are worthy of water. The question has traditionally been is the water being used efficiently for that use? But for future generations, when freshwater scarcities increase, will the question become, is it a use worthy of water at a specific location? As a society, should we grow rice, almonds, alfalfa in the desert? Should we locate mega-datacenters in the desert Southwest? And what incentives (I’ve never been one for the stick, preferring carrots) can be offered to locate those uses in more water-rich regions?
We’re not there yet, but our grandchildren may be.