The establishment of the Law of the River wasn’t the end of the negotiation. Instead, it became the skeletal structure that agricultural entrepreneurs would build their businesses, and these businesses would go on to stretch through generations, feeding millions of people along the way. Over a hundred years later, the environment has changed, and growers, government agencies and citizens are still fighting over water use in the West. Responding to changing water availability isn’t new to California, and farmers have long played a role in conserving in order to make sure urban areas thrive. In the early 2000s, California invested in the infrastructure required to make better use of water. “In order to cut back to its allocation of 4.4 million acre-feet,” shared Mike Wade, Executive Director of the California Water Coalition, “urban areas in the state invested in water conservation. So Metropolitan Water District and Coachella Valley Water District and some others put a lot of money into on-farm water conservation. Most of it, if not all of it, is happening in the Imperial Valley. So, the Imperial Valley through voluntary on-farm and other conservation has generated 500,000 acre-feet of water a year that’s going to meet Southern California’s urban water needs. So that’s an example that we think other states can follow.” In response to the recent decline in water levels, California has put an additional 400,000 acre-feet of water on the table for conservation as well as another 350,000 acre-feet to be stored in Lake Mead for future use. “To avoid a large scale expensive legal battle, the Law of the River needs to be followed,” said Gail Delihant, Senior Director of California Government Affairs for Western Growers. These proposals on top of the savings already taking place means that negotiations to sustain through dry years is just beginning. The answer to the negotiation of price for an acre-foot of water exists on a pendulum, and the range of this pendulum may be different depending on the location and other water resources available to a grower. But even the diversification of water resources is becoming strained. In an effort to negotiate less agricultural water use, the Bureau of Reclamation has offered $400 per acre-foot, but for most, the offer is a non-starter. Some growers
are saying that the dollar amount per acre-foot needs to be closer to $2,000 an acre-foot for the deal to make financial sense. With $4 billion now coming from the Inflation Reduction Act to the Bureau of Reclamation for the intended use to alleviate the pressures from a drying system in the West, some see that the space for negotiation of the dollar amount per acre-foot has widened. The positive outlook is that there’s an openness for discussion to find a solution for most people looking to the future of available resources and the longevity of their businesses. As a senior water
rights holder, Larry Cox of Lawrence Cox Ranches said, “We recognize that it will take the engagement of Senior Ag to stabilize the reservoirs.” *** For Arizona, the room for movement and negotiation has its own challenges. Access to water set by the Law of the River means that Arizona is allocated less of the amount set for the Lower Basin region. A growing metropolitan system in central Arizona has challenged or eliminated the water available for agricultural use over the decades. Areas on the western side of the state, cities like
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