Water and Arid Lands of the Western United States A World Resources Institute Book

About this book

Despite impressive innovations by some states, western water laws and institutions now in place were designed chiefly for an earlier era and have not adapted to the new demands and stresses on water resources. In this book the authors explore the nature of water demands in the agricultural and municipal sectors and set forth prescriptions for the west to move away from its historical reliance on expensive supply-side projects and toward better management of existing supplies.

Six cases studies by experts in the field illustrate specific examples of water management issues. Taking as foci the Central Valley of California, the High Plains of Texas and the Upper Basin of the Colorado River, three of the case studies examine problems faced by the large urban areas of southern California; Tucson, Arizona and Denver, Colorado. A concluding chapter suggests practical policy options and politically feasible institutional changes for maximizing the efficiency of water use and minimizing the conflict associated with the reallocation of limited water supplies.

First published in 1988.

Contents

Foreword; Acknowledgments; 1. The West in profile Mohamed T. El-Ashry and Diana C. Gibbons; 2. The Great American Desert transformed: aridity, exploitation, and imperialism in the making of the modern American west Norris Hundley, Jr.; 3. The Central valley of California Charles V. Moore and Richard E. Howitt; 4. Land and water management issues: Texas high plains Ronald D. Lacewell and John G. Lee; 5. Water resources of the Upper Colorado river basin: problems and policy alternatives Charles W. Howe and W. Ashley Ahrems; 6. Growth and water in the South Coast basin of California Henry J. Vaux, Jr.; 7. Toward sustaining a desert metropolis: water and land use in Tucson, Arizona William E. Martin, Helen M. Ingrm, Dennis C. Cory and Mary G. Wallace; 8. Water management issues in the Denver, Colorado, urban area J. Gordon Milliken; 9. New water policies for the West Mohamed T. El-Ashry and Diana C. Gibbons; Appendix; Index.

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