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Comment by supportlocal4h | Hacker News Reader

It is not true that ground water from wells is freely available to whomever owns the land. See recent judgements regarding multi-billion dollar disputes in Nevada, Idaho, and Utah.

It is not a new thing for some wells to run dry because of neighbors' water use. And it isn't catching anybody by surprise. There's a whole lot of gunfighters flowing into these here parts. Uh hem, sorry. I mean lawyers.

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I was definitely handwaving when I said "in general", but I meant something like "in the absence of local laws to the contrary". And (without sufficiently specifying) I intended to limit my comment to Arizona because that was the focus of the article. Arizona is different than the other Southwestern states. Here's what seems like a more complete overview: https://groundwater.stanford.edu/dashboard/arizona.html

Note that unlike the other states you mentioned, the standard in Arizona is "reasonable use". Texas is the other big outlier. Do you have links (or good search terms) for the recent judgments you refer to? I know some things about this area (certainly enough to call it "complex"), but there is a lot I'm ignorant of.

SNWA loses another water fight

Great Basin Water Network court case

SNWA water war

Snake Valley production wells

Tribal leaders oppose southern nevada water

Those are in Nevada and Idaho, not Arizona.

Yes. While I originally disagreed with nkurz, I responded to their non-confrontational approach. So the above is not an argument, it's a cooperation. (I know; weird)

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