Idaho Water Wars Mirror Those of California

The water war we’re seeing in Idaho is the tip of the iceberg. The battles are being waged all across the Western states, and it’s going to reach critical mass soon. I came across a video linked to the RealClearEnergy website. The young host explains the crisis brewing in Southern California and Nevada. He lays the blame at the feet of cattle and farmers. Because the dairy industry (he references cows) is water intensive, and his steamed water rights were grandfathered into constitutions.

Let’s make a point here. Nobody forced millions of people to migrate to the deserts of the southwest. It was a choice. It’s like the guy who buys a house next to an airport and then demands air traffic be diverted and the facility moved.

Why is this important in Idaho? Because the fight over ranching and farming allotments is a skirmish compared to what’s coming with all the new housing developments. New people want to drink, shower, and water their grass. There are now many more of them than food producers, and they believe we can shift agribusiness as if we were picking up a factory and moving it 500 miles away.

Many of the newbies vote. This fall it looks as if we’ll have a ballot issue on primaries and elections. It shows you can collect signatures and with one vote change the way the state operates.

Somewhere, right now in Idaho, someone is plotting a strategy for a future referendum on altering the state constitution and changing water rights. Are you ready?