WATER 127 



jective was to enable people to get more out of the land. The 

 emphasis in the Water Facilities Act was on better land use. 



IRRIGATION 



Irrigation is a many-sided problem. Most important is the 

 question of who owns the water. The fact that the federal 

 government at one time owned all the land of the western 

 states, and in fact still owns about 680,000,000 acres of land, 

 most of which is in the western states, makes this problem even 

 more complicated. 



There are two schools of thought about the ownership of 

 water in the West. First there is what is called the California 

 Doctrine. According to this, the government owned the water 

 in the first place. When the states were admitted to the Union 

 they were given political rights, but they were not given the 

 federal property. Therefore, the federal government still owns 

 the rivers. On the other hand, the followers of the Colorado 

 Doctrine believe that the government gave up its right to the 

 water when it admitted the states. The Supreme Court has 

 not yet decided which of these doctrines is correct. 15 



But even if the states are eventually given control of the 

 water within their borders, the water rights problem would 

 not be solved. Since all great rivers, like the Rio Grande, the 

 Arkansas, and the Colorado, flow through many states, some 

 one must decide the water rights of the different states. Some 

 believe that a state in which a river has its source has a right 

 to all the water that flows within its boundaries. Other states 

 say that the people who used the water first have a right to 

 at least as much water as they originally used. Thus, if the 

 original users consumed all the available water, no new users 

 would be permitted. A third group holds to the theory that 

 the water should be divided according to need. Thus, even 



15 Ibid., p. 379. 



