Re:Israel Proves the Desalination Era Is Here
by sbov on Saturday July 30, 2016 @08:03PM
(#12195167)
Certainly eminent domain is sometimes necessary, and I agree some form of it will probably be necessary to solve California's problem, but I wouldn't exactly associate it with "letting prices rise" (the statement by the poster who started this line of thought).
The free market had its say when these water rights were sold, taking it back from them with eminent domain so we can charge more is not the free market.
The idea that farmers' water rights are inalienable seems absurd to me. A state can be in a drought but farmers needn't curb their usage at all?
If each suburban plot of land in California hypothetically came with a guarantee of 100k gallons of water a month, there would be no doubt that this would be cut immediately when a drought hit. It's only farmers' lobbying power that stops their water rights from being restructured wholesale.
With that said, I do think agriculture rightfully gets a lot of water allocated. Much of it seems wasted, though.