9369 ‎(2)‎

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9369
• Author: Colorado Water Workshop.
• Title: 12th & 13th Annual Colorado Water Workshop.
• USFW Year: 1987.
• USFW - Doc Type: Western State College of Colorado.
• Copyright Material: NO

~Dwtm

~m.
, \

2502 W. COLORADO A VENUE, SUITE 201
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO 80904

THE NEW WATER ERA - A PARADIGM

Phone: [phone]

A numb~r of social, political and economic forces are converging which will
have far-reaching effects on water management in the United States. Population
shifts and increasing development in arid regions, declining groundwater supplies
and groundwater quality, massive decreases in federal spending and increased
state control over water management are forcing changes in the way water is
used, priced and allocated. The critical question is how to allocate a limited
water supply among agricultural, municipal, industrial, recreational and
environmental uses. The answer is drought-crisis. Water bureaucracies are
not ready. Pearl Harbor atmosphere can be expected.

American Water Resources, Inc. believes this chaos will present a unique
opportunity.

Our reports have highlighted the comments and op~n~ons of a broad spectrum
of water professionals on the challenges and implications of moving from an era
marked by water project development and political subsidy to one marked by water
marketing - privatization and a f~ee market.

All contributors agree that federal financing of water projects has
maintained the "water-rich" illusions of this country. American laws, institutions,
and culture continue to reflect the naive belief that water supplies can be
expanded indefinitely - while the (~hallenge of the future will be learning to
live for less. Conservation is the powerful foundation for this trend.

It is generally agreed that INCENTIVES are needed to economize water use,
and that economic and market forces offer such incentives. There is concern
that a market approach to water management might fail to incorporate important
social and political concerns; however, having to depend on government regulation
to protect "externalities" of the marketplace (like water quality and fish and
wildlife) does not necessarily negate the important role that water marketing
can play in efficient water management.

While there is valid skepticism raised about any system that would allow
profits from selling a public resource, it is pointed out that people have been
profitting from water sales for a long time; that in itself is not unusual. Such
revenues allow a working subsidy to became a huge capital asset. It is the
general opinion of contributing authors that the community at large should
recapture a share of such revenues.

As the country begins to access the implications of groundwater contamin-
ation from hazardous waste sites, underground storage tanks and non-paint source
pollution, it becomes apparent that water quality will have an effect on both
scarcity and value. Traditional water allocation procedures are under stress
in light of growing demand from agricultural, municipal, industrial and
recreational users. The West, in particular, has historically relied on legal