water supply is governed by a system of continuous water circulation. Available water comes from two sources--surface water and groundwater. The efficient allocation of water depends on whether surface water or groundwater is the source being tapped. The problem with surface water is to allocate a renewable supply among competing users when there is no storage. Future supplies depend on such things as natural phenomena rather than on current withdrawal practices. With groundwater, on the other hand, current withdrawal does affect the resources available to future generations. The current allocation system in the U.S. involves different systems from one geographic area to the next. The current system is inefficient, and the prime source for this inefficiency involves restrictions placed on water transfers that prevent their gravitation to the highest-valued use. Charging inefficiently low prices is another reason.
Reisner's analysis suggests some of the reasons the current situation has developed, and his narrative tells much about social conditions, historical development, rivalries among different regions of the West, political actions, and so on, all related to the need for water. The book shows how different levels of political leadership have treated the issue at different times in American history and how they have interacted to alleviate matters. The political battles have been fierce an ongoing and suggest that class divisions in some areas are related to geography, political power, and the ability to get and use water as much as to the more conventional sources such as birth or economic clout.
The story of the owens Valley is especially interesting in this regard and continues to be important to the political structure of California tod
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