Water in the West has become like the weather, everybody talks about it but nobody does much about it. The political hot potato has become no less cool, though definitely less violent, since farmers and ranchers squared off over a century ago.

Into the breach step the folks at Western Progress [1] with a new agenda for water in the Mountain West. They’ve issued a report [2] [pdf] authored by water law experts Denise Fort and Lawrence MacDonnell and informed by a bevy of water and policy experts.

"More and more, we are seeing a realization across the West that the conservation and sustainability of water is essential to our future," said Lawrence MacDonnell, co-author of A New Western Water Agenda, a policy report out today from Western Progress, "this report seeks to extend existing efforts across the entire region and also suggest new ways of tackling increasing scarcity."
"The status quo simply won't work," said Denise Fort, the other co-author of the report and a professor at the University of New Mexico Law School, "we must find new ways in decrease our use of the limited water supply we face in the West."

The report lays out the givens, and they paint a potentially grim picture. The region is experiencing the nation's largest growth, with urban water demands increasing. Global climate change has already had an impact and is expected to be more pronounced in the Rocky Mountain region than in most areas in the country. It has been identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as one of most vulnerable parts of the country to future water shortages due to climate change and variability. The combination of lighter snow packs and increased evaporation because of higher temperatures mean that both ground water and stream flow will be reduced.

And there just isn't more water to be found:

Until relatively recently, it has been possible to identify sources of water not yet committed to some other, legally-protected use and develop these sources to meet new demands. We could store spring runoff and not interfere with summertime direct flow diversions. We could withdraw ground water without impairing surface water uses or other ground water uses.

It is increasingly difficult to find water sources that are not already committed to another use. We have dammed most rivers to capture high flows and to recapture water for subsequent use. We have tapped ground water at rates well beyond the ability of aquifers to recharge, so water levels have dropped and associated surface water has declined.

This is the situation that most educated observers already know. The question in everybody's mind, thus, is what in the hell are we going to do about it?

The folks at Western Progress have some ideas.

The eight actions recommended by the report are:

• Strengthen and expand water conservation and efficiency programs
• Integrate water planning with growth management and land use planning
• Adopt integrated strategies at the federal level
• Improve the process for transferring water from agricultural to urban and environmental uses
• Enhance and expand state instream flow programs
• Promote local watershed efforts
• Establish and strengthen statewide and local water trusts
• Improve ground water management strategies

It sounds and looks easy when you put in bullet points, doesn't it? But trying to get each of those bullet points enacted involves many actors, at the federal, state, and local levels, in and out of government. That's not even talking about all the stakeholders that have to be engaged—that would be all of us users, from the suburb dweller who loves her garden to the white water rafting company to the farmer to the silicon chip maker. Throw in the power plants and the mining operations and everyone who just wants to take a nice hot shower every day, and you've got a pretty thirsty mix.
Joan McCarter is a contributing editor of DailyKos.com and a researcher of Western politics

Trying to save the West's water has always been and is going to continue to be highly contentious. Which means a lot of our politicians would just as soon skip over it to go on to the next problem that might be a little easier to solve and that will make them fewer enemies. It's a perfectly understandable reaction—procrastination isn't just human nature, it's a hallmark of government. In it lays self preservation.

The thing is, we don't have more time. The good news is that it's an election year, meaning we are positioned very well as constituents to start exerting some pressure. At the federal level, not only our Congress people up for their biennial runs, but we have Senate races in five of the eight mountain states: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. There are only two governors' races, in Montana and Utah. But loads of mayors and city and county council seats are up.

In all, a concerned citizen has an awful lot of leverage in an election year. Consider sending this report to everyone running to represent you, at whatever level, and asking them what they plan to do about it when they're in office. There isn't anything more grassroots than water, and we can make this conversation happen.

Editor’s note: Joan McCarter's weekly blogs are part of a feature on PoliticsWest called "Diary of a Mad Voter." The group blog, published in partnership with NewWest.Net/Politics [3], is intended to give a glimpse into the hearts and minds of several independent-minded voters and thinkers in the Rocky Mountain West in the 2008 election year.