This is why and it is only beginning. This problem must be solved. It is complex and can be treacherous politically. But, this is the 21st Century and water is a valuable commodity complicated by a war no country on Earth wanted, except for Russia's Putin. I doubt the people of Russia want this war, but, it rages just the same. The water issue in the USA West must be solved. Conservation is important and protecting forests are important as they act to purify water and maintain a cooling effect on the land and air.
Everyone that has a stake in this must be heard and a solution found.
By Stephanie Elm
With a megadrought draining water reserves in the West, (click here) states are looking for alternatives to handle water rights, many of which were set more than 100 years ago when water supplies were far more abundant.
Back then, just posting a sign next to a water diversion was enough to be considered a right, one which could still be honored now. But the climate crisis is now straining those rights. There just isn't enough water in California to satisfy what's been allotted on paper.
For years, debate has raged in California about the best way to fix the water rights system for life in the modern era. Many of the senior water rights held in the state were set before 1914 when the permit system was established and when mining was big business.
"It's an old water system that many perceive isn't set up to deal with current climatic and hydraulic conditions," Nathan Metcalf, a water rights attorney for California law firm Hanson Bridgett, told CNN. "It's just not really set up to deal with climate change and the changing needs for water both from an environmental standpoint, and then there's also the rub between agriculture and municipal."...
