How “Water Sharing” Works

In Environmental Systems this week we learned about what happens when a community shares one body of water as it’s only source of water. We learned that it is possible for one member of such a community to use up all the water and leave none for the rest of the citizens. For example, a battery manufacturing company could use too many MAFs, or million acre feet and leave not enough water for the local ranches or housing developments. Systems like this exist in naturally dry areas such as Nevada or Arizona.

Another issue that comes along with these water rights is that of pollution. The further upstream an organization is, the more impact they have on the water for the rest of the community. An example of this is if a dairy farm lie at the top of a river, it has the possibility of causing oxygen deprivation in the river as well as contributing salts to the river. People downstream will then have a lower quality water source due to the pollution that the dairy farm caused.