Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons^™

Irrigation, Power, And Salmon: The Case For Voluntary Water Transfers In The Columbia Basin, Eric Kuhner

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

This paper begins with a brief history of water law in the west, illustrating the roots of conflict over water allocation. A more detailed examination of activities in the Columbia Basin follows, describing the many parties affected by issues of water use and the overlapping institutional structures that govern the river and its water.

Sources of pressure to change the current pattern of water use are then considered. These include requirements to protect endangered salmon runs and the change over time in the relative values of water for power production and irrigation. This section demonstrates how changes in the value …