"Willi" wrote

It gives me some hope.



I hope things go well.

As you know and mentioned, water laws in the West are often ridiculous.
I own a small piece of irrigated farmland. I once offered to take a lot
less water than "I own the right to" as a conservation measure in a dry
season. Turns out I'd permanently lose ( maybe, "if caught" ) my "water
rights" by such a move. Since the land is worth about 10 times as much with
the water as it would be without, I was forced to use "my share" instead of
share.


I just saw some pictures of the HFork at Osborne bridge taken a few days
ago. The water is so low it makes me want to weep. This in a state
that uses ( I'm told ) several times the water/ pound of potatoes to grow
spuds compared to neighboring states, simply because the farmers have zero
incentive to conserve and some incentive to waste built into the laws,
similar to my story.

The idea that the guy that manages and conserves the best should be the last
one shut off in extreme dry conditions and the one paying the least per
acre foot all the time, is too smart, I guess ... or too "progressive" in
many
Western areas ( heah, it ain't the way we always did it so it must be
wrong )