Water Rights

In Chile, where water rights are private property and not a public resource, agricultural producers and mining companies siphon off rivers and tap scarce water supplies. Drinking water is trucked into Quillagua because the river that fed this oasis town is contaminated and all but dried up. Photo: Tomas Munita for The New York Times

Who owns the water? In chile it depends on who buys it...the rights that is. In several portions of the country one Spanish company, Endesa, owns 80% (NY Times: Chilean Town Withers in Free Market for Water).

Other countries, such as Australia and here in the Southwest US, water rights are said to be handled with more environmentally and conflict resolutions...

In my backyard, water is a commodity. My house has water rights...a value, that I could sell. And the lawsuits can be found.

"The historic water users and the large water interests of Taos Valley are now involved in what is known as the Abeyta Lawsuit. Included in this lawsuit are: Taos Pueblo, Taos Valley Acequia Association, the Town of Taos, and several mutual domestic water consumer districts. If our water existed in abundance, then the judge could have told everyone to drill deeper long ago. The long term implications for both surface and ground water use are so contentious that this lawsuit has been in court for more than 40 years.

Sources:
Taos Horse Fly: Taos County Water Supplies
Taos Pueblo

Reading:
Cadillac Desert by M. Reisner
Blue Covenant by M. Barlow
Rivers of Empire by D. Worster
Blue Gold by M. Barlow
Water Wars by D. Ward
Whoes Water Is It? by Douglas Jehl
Water Wars by Vandana Shiva
Every Drop for Sale by Jeffrey Rothfeder