The Western expansion of the 19th century began with the Louisiana Purchase, which effectively doubled the size of the country. Thousands began settling further and further west, building towns and farms. The idea of land ownership for the individual was heralded as being the very definition of liberty.
As people settled into the more arid landscapes in the intermountain west, infrastructure projects became essential to the long-term survival of the new settlements. Dams captured water during its most abundant season - the spring runoff - and canals diverted that water to the farms and towns when and where it was needed.
As western settlement expanded, many water infrastructure projects were federally sponsored. As Marc Reisner documented in his incredible book, Cadillac Desert, two separate and competing government entities - the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers - funded enormous projects throughout the West. These projects continued well into the 20th century, and large dams and canals expanded the carrying capacity of western towns. As a result, populations shot up in unlikely places like southern California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah.
The feverish pace at which the federal agencies built these large scale projects could not last, and eventually three factors combined to curb the construction of new infrastructure: the number of prospective sites diminished, federal funding decreased, and the environmental movement provided more resistance to new construction. As a result, most of the water infrastructure we depend on in the West was built before 1960.
Every kind of infrastructure has a life span, and needs maintenance and eventually total replacement. Today many western cities face the wicked problem of old, outdated, inefficient water infrastructure they depend on and can't afford to replace or adequately repair. Many communities in Utah still depend on earthen canals dug by pioneers in the 1850s. Dams throughout the West are showing signs of wear. Leaky canals and pipes lose incredible amounts of water through seepage and evaporation. The American Society of Civil Engineers released the 2011 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, and gave Dams a D, and Wastewater and Drinking Water a D-. The situation is both embarrassing and unsafe.
Jeremy Hays of Huffington Post sees the water infrastructure crisis as a timely opportunity. In our economy, many people are desperate for jobs and our water infrastructure is dire need of work. An investment into our western water infrastructure, whether that's decommissioning, replacing, or repairing our dams, pipes, and canals, needs to happen today.
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