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Re: NFC: WORLD NEWS REVIEW, Tuesday, September 19, 2000 (fwd)
mdb6850 at tamug_tamu.edu wrote:
>
> I've heard of this from realtives in the Perryton area. As if water is
> not already at a premium there, things will get that much tougher. I
> hear good offers are being made for property water rights. The thing
> is this - if one farmer/rancher sells "his" part of the aquifer, then
> everyone else will be affected. Since the whole system is
> connected, all it takes is for one guy to be bought out. Others
> holding out can't do anything. Since the rate of replenishment is
> relatively low, water levels will keep on dropping. It doesn't take a
> rocket scientist to figure out that this screws everything up in the
> worst way for all future generations in the area. The land will
> potentially become worthless. Sort of sounds like an underground
> version of the tapping of the Colorado several decades back...
Only true when done by a *government* exercising "Eminent Domain" to the
water rights. Private rights are always subject to others with rights to the
same water, and cannot deplete the aquifer without consequences. Laws vary
in different places, but generally this will be true.
I refer you to the early 20th century operations of the City of Los Angeles
(abetted by crooked bureaucrats in the Bureau of Reclamation), in the Owens
Valley of CA, for an exact scenario of how it actually gets done. W. A.
Chalfant's _Story of Inyo_ is probably the best reference.
[Never has my .sig line been so perfectly true! ;-) Probably also needs the
Santayana quote on reliving history if you forget it.]
Wright
--
Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679 huntleyone at home dot com
If it ain't broke, don't fix it -- and, especially,
don't let politicians fix it. ... Thomas Sowell
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