Thanks for the FYI.

I only learned about the water problem out west from movies, more recently when looking for water solutions for my sister in NM.

Took a while to understand their thinking. Which I believe is seriously flawed.

The original writing of the laws were about water flowing down rivers, as USA will do they reinterpreted it to any water flowing into the rivers including the rain. The rain interpretation is in direct violation to the whole purpose of land ownership. As a land owner you own all resourced on it (unless they have been sold). You own the rain on your property until it leaves by the definition of owning property. You can grow crops without a problem (?), yet if you delay the rain your a bad guy??

Second problem with the rain as water is the UN has a treaty world wide forbidding countries charging for using AIR (they may protect the air from polluters). Rain is air until it hits the ground to my way of thinking. Else we would call it water falling!-)

Third problem, what am I going to do with the delayed water...
Good thin I do not live out west, I would be raising such trouble over MY properties rights being violated by perversion of laws.

Fourthly, water rights should only apply to the property they below. NO selling, the water must be used ON the properties they were given. Heck, you could apply for the entire flow of the river if your the first there. Denial of water down stream going forward. The rights should have been for a purpose, if that purpose is no longer being used then you loose the rights to the water. People with old water rights make more money selling them than using them. The intent of the water rights was to make sure one person did not hog all the water, a river is a community resource. With the perversion in our laws the water hogging is exactly what did happen.