Analyis of Two Principle Legal/Institutional Constraints to Agricultural Water Conservation in the Eleven Western States

摘要

The legal/institutional structures most strongly impending water conservation are the prohibitions against temporary transfer of water rights and water banking, and the legal structures which make it difficult or impossible for an appropriator who salvages water to secure rights to that water. A survey was mailed to between 50 and 70 representative irrigation districts, canal companies and ditch companies in each of the eleven western states. Following the survey, a series of interviews was conducted with water users and water rights administrators throughout the west. Irrigators most concerned about the diversion of agricultural water to energy interests were generally those with the least personal knowledge of specific transfers.