ABSTRACT
M y purposes i n writing this book were multiple, but related: to explore the origins of federal water development in the western United States; to summarize how the Bureau of Reclamation of the U.S. Department of the Interior arrived where it is today; and to describe why certain water subsidies were built into the program and how they have pyramided, leading to inefficient water use. One of the main arguments in the book is that federally subsidized water sup plies have become property rights and that the most effective way to confront the issue of inefficient usage is to recognize those rights and to facilitate voluntary transfers offederally supplied water. In partic ular, the book contains recommendations for how Bureau of Reclama tion policy and law could be modified to better define such rights in order to facilitate water transfers. Finally, it examines several cases where facilitating transfers might prove fruitful. In short, facilitat ing water trades is one major step that the Bureau of Reclamation can take to modernize its role. 1
The book begins with a discussion of the history of the reclamation movement before 1900. Chapters 1 and 2 examine the early debates over the proper federal role in developing irrigation in the western
Part II: Policy Recommendations to Facilitate Water Marketing
This analysis leads to an alternative recommendation to promote more efficient use of federally supplied irrigation water. Rather than attempting to reduce the subsidies embodied in existing contracts, federal policymakers should seek to make the current property inter ests in federally supplied water more secure and to allow voluntary market trading of the resource among water users. Chapter 5 dis cusses several examples of trades of this type that have already taken place. However, bureau policy has generally not given the contracting entities sufficient control over their water to make transfers viable on a large scale.
