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83 Tex L. Rev. 1873 (2004-2005)
Water Scarcity, Marketing, and Privatization

handle is hein.journals/tlr83 and id is 1891 raw text is: Water Scarcity, Marketing, and Privatization Robert Glennon* I. Prelude Most Americans take water for granted. Turn on the tap and a limitless quantity of high quality water flows for less money than it costs for cable television or a cell phone. The current drought has raised awareness of water scarcity, but most proposals for dealing with drought involve quick fixes- short-term palliatives, such as bans on washing cars or watering lawns except on alternate days. It is assumed that things will return to normal, and we will be able to wash our cars whenever we wish. But the nation's water supply is not inexhaustible. A just-released report of a White House subcommittee ominously begins: Does the United States have enough water? We do not know.' In a survey of states conducted by the U.S. General Accounting Office, only 14 states reported that they did not expect to suffer water shortages in the next 10 years.2 Is the sky falling? Not yet, but the United States is heading toward a water scarcity crisis: our current water use practices are unsustainable, and environmental factors threaten a water supply heavily burdened by increased demand. As the demand for water outstrips the supply, the stage is set for what Jared Diamond would call a collapse.3 How will we respond? When we needed more water in the past, we built a dam, dug a canal, or drilled a well. With some exceptions, these options are no longer viable due to a pau- city of sites, dwindling supplies, escalating costs, and environmental objections. Instead, we are entering an era in which demand for new water will be satisfied by reallocating and conserving existing sources. The current water rights structure is the outcome of historical forces that conferred great * Robert Glennon is the Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy at the Rogers College of Law and a member of the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona. For comments on drafts, I am indebted to Karen Adam, David Gantz, Darcie Johnson, Gary Libecap, Carol Rose, and my research assistants Bob Hall and Justin Castillo. I would also like to thank the National Science Foundation for the funding that facilitated my research. Finally, I spent July 2004 as a writer-in-residence at the Mesa Refuge in Point Reyes, California, where I began writing this Article. I am very grateful to Peter Barnes for making my stay possible. 1. SUBCOMM. ON WATER AVAILABILITY & QUALITY, NAT'L SCI. & TECH. COUNCIL COMM. ON ENv'T & NAT. RESOURCES, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT FRESH WATER AVAILABILITY IN THE UNITED STATES (2004). 2. UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE, REPORT No. GAO-03-514, REPORT TO CONGRESSIONAL REQUESTERS, FRESHWATER SUPPLY: STATES' VIEWS OF How FEDERAL AGENCIES COULD HELP THEM MEET THE CHALLENGES OF EXPECTED SHORTAGES 8 (2003). And this assumed average water conditions; under drought conditions, 46 states expect shortages. 3. See JARED DIAMOND, COLLAPSE: How SOCIETIES CHOOSE TO FAIL OR SUCCEED 3 (2005) (defining collapse as a drastic decrease in human population size and/or political/economic/social complexity, over a considerable area, for an extended time).

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