WSP09351

• File Number: 8220.111.J
• Description: Central Utah Participating Project
• State: UT
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 1/1/1993
• Title: The CUP Holds the Solution: Utah's Hybrid Alternative to Water Markets
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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CENTRAL UTAH PROJECT COMPLETION ACT

175

have other managerial interests that clash with the principles of water
markets. For example, the study of individual transfers can be
expensive.. and make long-range planning more difficu1t..9 Also,
most water district boards avoid controversial decisions90-a certainty
with most water transfers.

B. Social and Psyclwlogical Barriers

1. Owens Valley Syndrome

The Western States have historically distrusted markets to allocate
water within a state and among states,.l Many of the perceptions and
concerns about water markets today are based on real harm that
occurred as a result of poorly planned transfers in the past!' About
seventy years ago, through .perfectly legal subterfuge, n Los Angeles
acquired all the water rights in Owens Valley, ultimately impoverishing
the valley and turning it into a ghost town," The perceptions caused
by this burdensome legacy and other similar stories throughout the
West have inhibited future efforts to implement water marketing."
The persistence of the Owens Valley syndrome was made manifest

.. See JOSEPH SAx ET AL., LEoAL CoNTROL OF WATER REsoURCES 670 (2d ed. 1991).
. S. Thompson. ,upra note 67.
"'Id.
tI Although the U.S. Supreme Court in Sporhase v. Nebraska, 458 U,S. 941 (1982), has sinee
held otherwise, many states long prohibited the export of water across state Jines. However,
"'the idea that markets should allocate water resources to the highest and best use i. still
vigorously resisted 88 inequitable.'" Tarlock, supra note 17, at 171.
The CUP was a response to fears that California would take over Utah's share of
Colorado River water. These fears still lingered in 1984 when a private company proposed
building a reservoir on the Yampa River, where the water would eventually be transported to
California for sale to San Diego County, bringing Utah as much 88 $1 million to $8 million in
revenues annually. However, -(t]he Utah Water Resources Board declined to recommend
participation in the plan on the ground that the legal and political problems (were] 'insunnount.
able.'" Swenson, supra note 8, at 39 n.I84.
"The fears and perceptions of many people continue to be influenced by earlier experiences,
even after learning that their perceptions were based on an experience that does not correlate
to future situations. Cognitive psychologists identify this 88 an anchoring heuristic. Clayton
P. GiJletta '" Jam.. E. Krier. Ria.u, Court., andAg.nci.., 138 U. PA. L. REv. 1027. 1092 (1990),
.. See REISNER, eupra nota 27. at 54-107.
.. REIsNER '" BATES, eupra nota 10. at 71;... RoBERT Go'rruEs & MARaAaET F'ITlSIMMONS,
TIIiRsT FOR GROWTH: WATER AGENCIES AS HIDDEN GoVERNMENT IN CALIFORNIA 83--85 (1991)
estating that residents of the Imperial Valley vehemently rejected the initial consideration of
· tranafer betwaen the Imperial Irrigation District and the Metropolitan Watar District of Loa
Angele. by defeating several incumbent directors and forcing others to retire); see also infra
notas 137-140 and accompanying ten.