The American West is in the grips of a megadrought—its second worst in the past 1,200 years
the ultimate arbiter in the American West,” Marc Reisner wrote in “Cadillac Desert”, his book on water there, published in 1986. Reisner was musing about the great white winter of 1886, which devastated cattle ranching, and the blistering drought that followed. But 135 years later the sentiment still rings true. The West is in the grip of a 22-year megadrought that is the second-worst in the past 1,200 years.
The effects are being felt across the West. Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, is at its lowest level since it was first filled in the 1930s. Water levels are so low that the Bureau of Reclamation, an agency of the Interior Department, declared the first-ever water shortage on the Colorado River on August 16th.
For pricing to work, the West’s outdated system of water rights will need an overhaul. Agriculture slurps up 70% of the water that flows down the Colorado River, which serves 40m people across the south-west. But in many states, farmers or ranchers forfeit their water rights if they don’t use them. Such “use it or lose it” clauses mean that the reward for conservation can be the loss of one’s livelihood.
The conservation needed to water the West will require more than just market fixes. Policymakers must accept that a few wet seasons won’t bail them out. One reason water-rationing for the Colorado River basin could be so painful is that rights were allocated based onabout the river’s flows. Some officials would still rather plan for more dams or aqueducts than reckon with the reality of shrinking reservoirs. Instead they should focus on reducing water consumption.
America is rich enough to recycle water and to look after its watersheds. That will help mitigate the effects of climate change. But drought is not a problem unique to the American West. The World Health Organisation estimates that water scarcity afflicts 40% of the global population. The West can be either an exemplar of resilience or a warning to the rest of the drought-stricken world. The region has long been inhospitable. It doesn’t have to become uninhabitable.
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