WHO USES THE WATER WEST OF THE 100TH MERIDIAN?

In the drier portions of the Western United States the available water is fully appropriated—someone owns every drop of water. Water is in short supply in this part of the country. Almost no new dams are being built; there is no new water being made available. This translates into a classic shortage where there is competition among water users, and the value of water increases. In this paper the author will review western water use by state.

Irrigated agriculture is by far the largest water-using sector in the west. There are approximately 50 million acres of irrigation west of the 100th Meridian—20%, 10 million acres in California. Even in California irrigated agriculture consumes approximately 80% of the available water. As the urban population increases in the west, especially in the southwest, there is intense pressure to move water from irrigation to municipal uses—this pressure can only increase in the future. As one wise Western State Engineer put the issue years ago—“water moves uphill to money”. The question to be addressed—is that bad?