ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates how effectively water has been allocated among competing uses in the Columbia River Basin. The major challenge is that river system management compatible with one use imposes large economic losses on others. The chapter sets the stage by describing competing water uses, and the federal, interstate, and state institutions managing water in the Basin. It shows how their efforts to coordinate water policy have been frustrated by (1) conflict between federal and state laws regulating water use; (2) the inflexibility of the prior appropriation water rights system in allocating water to modern-day non-appropriative uses such as hydroelectric power generation and salmon habitat; (3) rent-seeking behavior by traditional appropriators; and (4) judicial decisions restricting regulatory authority that state water agencies require to police water use. The chapter recommends that Columbia Basin states improve water allocation by recognizing non-appropriative water activities as beneficial uses so that the holders of these rights can compete on par with traditional appropriative rights holders in water markets. State water agencies would need to protect the integrity of non-appropriative rights against rent-seeking activities of traditional appropriators.
