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A New Era for Irrigation (1996)

Chapter: 2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION

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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Suggested Citation:"2 THE CULTURE OF IRRIGATION." National Research Council. 1996. A New Era for Irrigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5145.
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Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

The Cultures of Irrigation The obvious dimensions of irrigation are tangible how much water is used, what acreage of land is irrigated, what crops are grown, what forces of change and responses are seen. But to really understand irrigation and how it might evolve in the future, we must consider the more intangible, subjective dimensions of irrigation in a sense, the context in which change must occur. In this report, we call this the culture of irrigation. At one level, irrigation is simply the application of water to grow plants. At another level, it is the basis for an economy and a way of life. In a very real sense, irrigation made possible the highly intensive settlement of a landscape that otherwise would not readily support large numbers of people. Irrigation has transformed that landscape, literally and figuratively. The bands of green fields sometimes spreading out to considerable distances from the banks of the rivers of the western United States, the circles of green covering the Great Plains, the urban oases filled with trees, flowers, and lawns these are the products of . . . rr~gahon. More profound than this physical alteration of the landscape is the effect of the human population that accompanied and caused this alteration and whose presence was made possible, in part, because of irrigation. Modern irrigation, beginning in the late nineteenth century, carried with it a sense of mission. People like E. A. Smythe viewed irrigation as nothing less than the progenitor of civilization in an otherwise inhospitable land the key to making the desert bloom (Smythe, 1905~. At this juncture, the roots of modern irrigation have been largely forgotten, although they continue to influence the views of many 20

THE CULTURES OF IRRIGATION people associated with western 21 il rrigated agriculture, and they help to explain many of the policies and institutions in place today. There are fundamental cultural dimensions of irrigation. The committee found evidence of these dimensions in its discussions throughout the project, both with those who spoke to the committee and within its own discussions. The committee was surprised, however, at the relative paucity of good research ex- ploring these cultural dimensions, particularly with respect to irrigation in the United States (see Box 2.1~. Culture, as used in this chapter, refers to the "ideas, customs, skills, arts, etc. of a given people in a given period.") Irrigation, as it has been practiced in agriculture, is a distinctive activity. It is sufficiently distinctive that it has its own history, its own governmental policies, its own institutions, its own practices, and, historically at least, its own communities. Modern irrigation in the United States probably began with the Mormons whose existence as a community in the Great Salt Basin depended on its practice (Arrington, 1975~. It grew in places such as California and Colorado, first in support of mining, and then to support settlement itself. Later in the nineteenth century, it outgrew its utilitarian origins and took on the aura of a movement, becoming for some the basis for building utopian communities (Boyd, 1897), for making the desert bloom (Maass and Anderson, 1978), and for civilizing the Great American Desert of the West (Smythe, 1905~. Congress created a federal agency now called the Bureau of Reclamation dedicated solely to the task of expanding irrigation in the West (Pisani, 1992~. At the base of this swelling interest in irrigation was a central idea: that a society and an economy could be built on irrigated agriculture. The essentially free, virtually unlimited land area of the western United States could be turned into a productive region, providing land and a means of support for settlers while also producing beef and other agricultural products for the country. It was a bold idea, ideally suited for this era of expansion and exploitation. It found wide- spread support not only among those seeking to promote development of the West but also among those in other parts of the country who saw this develop- ment as serving their own interests. Out of these origins grew an irrigation culture that viewed itself as serving a larger national interest as well as providing a means of sustenance in an arid environment. In the arid setting of the West, there was great power in the idea of irrigation. It unleashed remarkable energies of both private and public enterprise in the construction of water collection, diversion, and delivery facilities to make water available for agricultural use. Equally remarkable creativity emerged in the laws and institutions that were developed to support irrigation. The national-level prominence given to irrigation through the federal recla- mation program further supported the development of an irrigation culture. Rec- lamation projects were extraordinarily successful in obtaining congressional fund

22 A NEW ERA FOR IRRIGATION ............................................................................................................................. ':':':':':':':':':':':':':':'::::: :'::: :''::: :':: :'::::: :':::: :' ' :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::':':::::::£:':::::::':::::::::::::'':::::::' :':'::: :'::: :' :':':::: :': :' :': :': :'::::: :' :':':::::::::::::':::::::: maJo-r---sy-n-~ -~-eses---o~ socket ~ a-n-u---c ing support (McCool, 19871. Federally funded irrigation projects sprouted across the West, expanding irrigated acreage in some areas and creating new irrigation in others. Not only did additional lands come under irrigation, but communities developed and grew. Especially in rural areas, these communities often were heavily dependent on irrigation for their existence. Businesses in these commu- nities provided services needed by irrigators, such as the provision of seed, equip- ment, and basic household supplies. In turn, irrigators generated the market crops that brought outside capital into the community. Irrigation culture established itself in the quasi-governmental institutions

THE CULTURES OF IRRIGATION 23 - ............................................................................................................................ ................................................................................................................................................................................ ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................................................. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: that were established to build and maintain the facilities needed to provide water and in the development of the legal rules for allocating the water itself among different users. Even today, the directors of mutual ditch companies, irrigation districts, and conservancy districts are leading figures in their communities, con- stituting a power base with considerable influence over water issues at a state and even national level. In today's increasingly urbanized society, evidence of a culture of irrigation is much less apparent. The unifying idea of a society built around irrigation no longer has the power it once had. It would be a mistake, however, to believe that

24 A NEW ERA FOR IRRIGATION this traditional irrigation culture is no longer important. It remains alive and well in many parts of the rural West today, and it is also visible in the Great Plains and South. Irrigation continues to support economies in these areas and to make possible a way of living that is otherwise less and less available. It is a culture, however, that in some ways is in retreat and on the defensive. Instead of a national symbol of progress and growth, some now see irrigated agriculture as a depleter and polluter of water, living off government subsidies. Is there vitality still in the idea of irrigation? If it is no longer to serve as the basis for a society, what is its purpose? What if the "ideas, customs, skill, and arts" of irrigation should be built upon in the future? What must change? These are fundamental considerations in the discussion of the future of irrigation. This chapter begins by explaining the notion of cultural perspectives in rela- tion to the material presented in the previous chapters. It then discusses five broad cultural themes or issues: understanding the culture of irrigation; cultural heritage within a changing cultural context; cultural diversity; cultural conflict and cooperation; and irrigation knowledge systems. WHAT ARE CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES AND WHY DO THEY MATTER? The term "culture" is defined here in four ways: 1. National Irrigation Culture (i.e., widespread irrigation attitudes, percep- tions, values, and policies); 2. Local Irrigation Communities (i.e., local community-based attitudes, per- ceptions, values, and behavior); 3. Complex Processes of Change (i.e., forces and pressures causing change); and 4. Complex Patterns of Change (i.e., responses, often region or site specific, as illustrated later in the regional case studies). Widespread changes in values, attitudes, norms, aspirations, folklore, and conflicts affect individual and collective decision making, and they have shaped the current situation in irrigation. Among irrigators, these shared attitudes and perceptions have constituted a "culture of irrigation" that has influenced decision making at the national and regional levels. To understand these decisions, and how they might affect the future of irrigation, it is necessary to understand the perceptions and attitudes that shape national and regional irrigation cultures. Understanding local irrigation cultures is often key to resolving conflicts and to identifying and implementing creative practical solutions to irrigation problems. For example, Chapter 1 suggested that the original social aims of irrigation may have been largely fulfilled, or superseded by other concerns, leading to questions about the need for "a new social contract," "a new era," or a "new vision" for

THE CULTURES OF IRRIGATION 25 irrigation. Those who perceive these needs are, in a sense, seeking to envision and to design new cultural patterns, contexts, and opportunities for irrigation. Vision and design these two activities are linked for communities struggling to transform water systems across the country for the twenty-first century. Of course, not everyone agrees with recent diagnoses of irrigation problems or prognoses for change. Some communities in the western states, for example, argue that the problems are small and easily fixed without radical change. They describe irrigated agriculture as a culture of continuous adjustment and change- hourly, daily, seasonal and long-term adjustments to changing markets, technolo- gies, weather, and social organization and expect the industry to continue to adjust as needed. The complex processes of cultural change are clearly evident when looking at specific regions, such as depicted in the case studies in Chapter 5. Thus, a fourth use of the term culture is that associated with the complex patterns found in specific regions. In each case, culture serves as an integrative concept for examining rela- tions among environment, society, and technology; for addressing conflicts; and for expanding the range of alternatives available to future irrigators. This chapter on cultural perspectives seeks to introduce concepts that recur in later chapters. The "irrigation communities" described in those chapters are the bearers of irrigation culture. The matrix patterns that link irrigation commu- nities with changing technologies, water resources, and markets reflect cultural patterns. The chains of adjustment involve cultural processes. The regional case studies illustrate different cultural as well as economic, technological, environ- mental, and institutional issues in irrigation. Urban cultures are more prominent in the California and Florida cases than in the Great Plains, where the pattern of ground water irrigation conforms well with rural individualism and small town environments. It should be noted that each sector has multiple subcultures. Whereas some urban residents and developers create landscapes irrigated with vast amounts of potable water, others have banded together to establish new patterns of "xeriscaping," or prairie and desert landscaping.2 Some of the golf course developments that used vast amounts of irrigation water, fertilizers, and pesticides are advancing to the forefront of the horticultural industry' s scientific application of wastewater reuse, wetlands protection, and nonpoint source pollu- tion control. At the same time, water conservation specialists report that some techniques designed to conserve or protect water resources (e.g., lawn sprinkler automation and ditch lining) have unanticipated effects such as loss of incidental vegetation providing wildlife habitat that require further behavioral or techno- logical adjustment. Irrigated regions have also developed a wide variety of agribusiness and administrative cultures. A key challenge in urbanizing regions is to facilitate multiple and complementary water uses. A challenge in rural areas is to coordi- nate individual and collective water management at larger and larger scales. American Indian cultures are central in discussions of the future of irrigation in

26 A NEW ERA FOR IRRIGATION many regions, especially the Pacific Northwest. Different Hispanic and Asian culture groups influence irrigation in California and Florida. Political and legal cultures vary by state, facilitating different kinds of irrigation change and resis- tance to change. Colorado relies on water courts, while New Mexico and Utah place more responsibility on water administrators. The culture of water as a property right is more highly elaborated and contested in the western than in the eastern states. Even the cultures of environmental groups vary across differ- ent regions of the country. Cultural perspectives provide, on the one hand, a synthesis of the diverse factors affecting irrigation decisions a way of assembling diverse facts, ideas, and insights. They also help identify issues related to the social meaning of, and attitudes toward, irrigation. In both respects, they help us understand current irrigation issues and gauge future possibilities. CULTURAL ISSUES The future cannot be predicted from the past (Popper, 1964), and no one situation is exactly like another, but cultural research can help frame analogies to assess the likely strengths and weaknesses of the economic, technological, insti- tutional, and regional alternatives. Analogies use an account of the past (i.e., the analogue) to help imagine, project, or construct a plausible or instructive scenario about the future (Glantz, 1988; Helman, 1988~. Irrigators use analogies when they face a problem by reflecting comparable situations in the past, in other regions, or in different resource sectors. Analogies have commonly been used, for example, between the water and electric power sectors. Irrigators use analo- gies when they imagine how a new technology or crop might affect their opera- tions. Analogies offer a more detailed perspective on contextual factors that influence irrigation than do formal decision models. They can help ensure that all relevant experiences and alternatives are considered. Finally, they are useful for understanding crisis behavior that falls outside the boundary conditions of most irrigation planning and management models. This section uses analogies to examine cultural issues facing water managers today. Of the many cultural issues surrounding contemporary irrigation, five broad themes stand out. The first of these, "understanding the culture of irrigation," raises basic questions about the nature and meaning of irrigation in the United States. These questions then lead to more specific questions about cultural heritage, context, diversity, conflict, and knowledge. 1. Understanding the Culture of Irrigation. Is there a "culture of irrigation"? That is, do irrigation communities have distinct views of themselves, their contri- butions to society, attitudes toward water, and institutions they have created? How well understood are these contemporary cultures of irrigation? What types of understanding are needed to resolve emerging water problems and conflicts?

THE CULTURES OF IRRIGATION 27 2. Cultural Heritage Within a Changing Cultural Context. What is the "heritage value" of irrigation? How important is it? How does it change as the larger situation changes? What are the options for heritage conservation? 3. Cultural Diversity. What is cultural diversity? Why is it important? What problems does it entail? What are the options for fostering constructive diversity? 4. Cultural Conflict and Cooperation. How has conflict shaped and impeded the development of irrigation? What role have cooperative behaviors played in irrigation development? How do irrigation policies aggravate or alleviate con- flict? What are the conditions that facilitate cooperation and conflict resolution? 5. Irrigation Knowledge Systems. What branches of useful irrigation knowl- edge have been neglected or lost? How might they be identified, evaluated, and adapted? What is needed to support and facilitate innovation and adaptation of irrigation science and practice? The importance of these questions may be illustrated with examples from modern (1900-1995), early historic (1500-1900), and pre-historic (pre-1500) irri- gation (Figure 2.1~. These examples also span a range of spatial scales, from the local to the global. They encourage the type of broad long-term thinking needed to ensure the sustainability and timely adaptation of irrigation systems. They also identify alternatives that might be overlooked and keep one mindful of unex- pected changes in the context of irrigation (Wescoat, 1984~. Is,/ 7 ISSUES Understanding lhe Cohere of Jrr~gafion Choral fler~rage ct Context Cultural D`versi~ Cooperation 4t Conflict rr~gR6On Knowledge- S,ystemg Prel7lstoric - Historic - Mourn TIMESC4ES IRlUGAvO~ FUTURES FIGURE 2.1 Conceptual framework illustrating the nonlinear relationships be- tween time, spatial scale, and issues related to the evolution of irrigation.

28 A NEW ERA FOR IRRIGATION Understanding the Culture of Irrigation Is there a culture of irrigation in the United States? There are many distinc- tive regional patterns and processes of irrigation. The massive agricultural projects and businesses of California, for example, stand in sharp contrast with smaller operations of the Rocky Mountain states. The center pivot systems of the Great Plains have little in common with sugarcane irrigation of the Gulf Coast. There is an enormous diversity of irrigation cultures. At the same time, several irrigation patterns and movements assumed na- tional significance in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Collectively, the perspectives and projects associated with irrigation established a "culture of irri- gation," some aspects of which persist, while others face fundamental challenges. Three aspects of this culture seem particularly relevant for the future of irrigation. The Reclamation Ethic To this day, many irrigators maintain strong views about the inherent value of "reclamation." Whether draining the bottomlands of the lower Mississippi valley or irrigating the deserts of the West, the historical transformation of "waste into wealth" is a source of enormous satisfaction for irrigators. In arid areas, making "the desert bloom as a rose" has Biblical antecedents and continuing resonance. Indeed, the Reclamation Movement of the late nineteenth century, led by William Smythe (1905) and others, had a missionary zeal and explicitly reli- gious as well as social and economic justifications (Lee, 1980~. To participate in the transformation of the deserts and wetlands and to bring out their potential productivity have been viewed as inherently moral and civilizing activities. To settle middle-class families on productive units of land was an inspiring social goal (Mead, 1903, 1920~. To meet the harsh challenges of the desert had an heroic quality (Wescoat, 1990~.3 All of these ideas have shaped the view of irrigation as a way of life and civilization that has a deep appeal for those who live it. Many irrigation communities seek to maintain or revive the original values associated with reclamation. They disagree with views that see reclamation as environmentally harmful. Indeed, in some respects the irrigated agricultural community now is paying a price for not responding sooner to early criticism about the harms of reclamation by popular critics such as Reisner (1986~. A1- though many share contemporary concerns for such things as fish, wildlife, and environmental quality, the community overall was badly served by those who initially dismissed the critics. Reclamation agencies adapted slowly and awk- wardly to the changing cultural context. Cast in this light, the ideology of reclamation helps explain some contempo- rary irrigation problems and conflicts. It calls for a greater measure of respect among the participants in irrigation forums. It also suggests a creative approach

THE CULTURES OF IRRIGATION 29 to negotiations, which asks, what is the new vision for an integrated water man- agement that includes irrigation in the twenty-first century? What will be the new moral landscapes and new forms of heroism? The history of reclamation informs us that such questions are not irrelevant or utopian: they are practical matters for collaborative work and creative design. Attitudes Toward Water In the western states, water often is described as the "lifeblood" of the re- gion. Many in the West still believe that land without water has little value, which is literally true for irrigated cropland. This fundamental dependence on water gave rise to several deeply rooted concepts that guide agricultural water use and have profoundly influenced western water law. At base, irrigators view water as an essential means to an end that is, an input needed to grow crops. This highly instrumental view of water promotes the importance of clarity respecting relative rights to use water as well as the value of certainty in those rights. Thus the principle of priority "first in time, first in right" holds great importance for irrigators. Not only does priority help to sort out competing claims to water, it also serves to protect the substantial claims of irrigated agriculture to water since much of this use was established early enough in the settlement of the West to give agricultural users seniority over most other water uses. One consequence of a priority rule is to emphasize time as the most important factor in determining rights to use water rather than, for example, place, value, or purpose of use (Bates et al., 1993~. Related to this strong desire for certainty is the importance of stability and protection against change. Dependent as they are on the availability of water, irrigators understandably fear the diminishment of their water supply. With a historical record of generally increasing land areas coming under irrigation until the past decade or so, irrigators have jealously guarded their claims. Changes of the use of irrigation water rights, particularly for nonagricultural uses outside the original place of use, have been resisted (MacDonnell and Rice, 1994~. The legal concept of no injury has emerged to protect the water rights of existing users against change. At the same time, there is a strongly felt view among most irrigators that water is a shared public resource. This principle is articulated in constitutions and statutes throughout the nation. In addition to serving the interests of individual irrigators, water must be managed wisely to serve the broader interests of the community. This approach is perhaps most completely exemplified by Hispanic acequia organizations in northern New Mexico (Crawford, 1989~. Riparian prin- ciples, prevalent in the eastern states, also emphasize this common property view of water. The prior appropriation doctrine has never comported with this view of water. It is based on establishing rights to water through the act of capture and

30 A NEW ERA FOR IRRIGATION use (appropriation), so this doctrine reflects its origins in mining rather than in agriculture. Water rights are regarded as property rights, to be defended as vigorously as any other type of property (if not more so). Water diverted from the river into canals and ditches sometimes has been characterized as private prop- erty. That portion of the water supply consumptively used in the growing of crops (perhaps half of the water diverted) is undeniably privatized. Competing tensions between private and collective need in irrigation pro- duced several important principles. One is the concept of duty of water. Legally, this concept places an upper limit on the amount of water necessary to grow crops on a given parcel of land. There is something particularly revealing about the idea that water has a "duty" to grow crops. It emerged primarily as a simple means for state water administrators to allocate water for irrigation uses.4 It served as a way to more quantitatively articulate the more general principle of beneficial use the condition of water law that the initiation and continuation of a water use are limited to those that are regarded as "beneficial."5 The doctrine of beneficial use is understood to preclude the waste of water (Shupe, 1982~. These concepts of duty of water and waste reflect the concerns of irrigators with regards to the importance of water to the larger community that might place limits on private actions. In practice, these principles have rarely been invoked to question established water uses. Given the increasing competition for water use that often pits irrigation agriculture against urban, tribal, and environmental interests, it is perhaps impor- tant to understand these cultural views of water. They help to explain the fervor with which irrigation users sometimes defend their traditional water use preroga- tives. They shed light on the resistance of many irrigators to the increased efforts to market water as a means of changing its use from agriculture to cities. They help explain how irrigators may see water as a collective good in relation to the needs of the irrigation community but resist the notion of water as a public, instream resource. Institution Building The concepts of priority, beneficial use, duty of water, waste, and injury are formal irrigation institutions as well as attitudes toward water use. Indeed, one of the most remarkable aspects of irrigation culture is the institutions created to guide water use in situations of uncertainty and conflict. In addition to the water rights principles described above, irrigators crafted institutions to administer those rights, such as state engineers, water commissioners, and water masters, whose job was to deliver water within the established water rights structure and to help resolve conflicts among competing water users. Special water courts were cre- ated in some states to resolve less tractable water conflicts and to decree the existence of water rights with their priorities. Over the decades, these courts moved from an eclectic set of early precedents to establish impressive bodies of

THE CULTURES OF IRRIGATION 31 irrigation case law that had far-reaching effects for agricultural and water re- sources development. Perhaps the most impressive realms of institution building, however, were those that facilitated cooperation among water users. Irrigation organizations evolved, ranging from local incorporated and unincorporated mutual ditch com- panies, to larger quasi-public irrigation districts, to multipurpose water conser- vancy districts (Corbridge, 1984~. These organizations served increasing num- bers and varieties of users and were able to respond to changing financial, market, and regulatory environments. Traditional irrigation institutions are increasingly deemed inadequate to meet the challenges of emerging water demands and values, that is, the emerging water cultures. It remains to be seen if irrigation interests can respond to these chal- lenges in modifying existing institutions and creating new ones in a manner that will continue to support irrigation activities. Cultural Heritage Within a Changing Cultural Context Two hundred years ago, few American Indians in fishing-based communi- ties would have envisioned the massive depletion of western streams that would ensue because of water development. A hundred years ago, few irrigators would have envisioned water reallocation for stream restoration or policies to conserve and adapt the cultural heritage of irrigation for the coming century. Contempo- rary pressures on irrigation can only be understood within a broader perspective on local, national, and global change. At every level, and in most regions, the twentieth century has witnessed a shift from agrarian forms of social organization toward various combinations of urban, industrial, environmental, and recreation cultures. Pressure by the latter groups has given rise to concerns about the cultural heritage value of irrigation. Such appeals have much in common with appeals to and debates about the "family farm." It is not clear whether future societies will place more, less, or different values on irrigation agriculture. Cul- tural change involves the formation of different types of values as well as differ- ent weights and relations among values. Concern about the changing context of agriculture and its implications for public policy are by no means new. The context of federal irrigation policy has varied enormously over the past 150 years, from little involvement in the second half of the nineteenth century, to massive involvement in the mid-twentieth cen- tury, and an erratic but generally diminishing role during the past 20 years (Lee, 1980~. The 1970s and 1980s witnessed the ascent and maturation of various strands of environmentalism and progressivism, while the l990s brought sweep- ing conservatism and dissatisfaction with government programs. A century ear- lier, the Bureau of Reclamation sought to integrate regional land settlement, resource use, and economic development for small farmers (Mead, 1903~. These populist aims did influence reclamation projects in some parts of the Southwest

32 A NEW ERA FOR IRRIGATION and Rocky Mountain region, but they were alternately supported and rejected, and ultimately redirected toward large agribusiness interests in regions such as California (Pisani, 1984, 1992~. For a variety of reasons, the social vision of federal reclamation policy bore little fruit (Lee, 1980~. The first state engineer of California, William Hammond Hall, described the late nineteenth century context of irrigation in the Central Valley as an eclectic melange of groups and practices the same region that became the most large- scale, centrally planned irrigation system in the country. Earlier, irrigators on the Rio Grande faced dramatic territorial changes with Mexican independence fol- lowed by annexation and internationalization by the United States. The first Mormon irrigators in Utah had a relatively stable cultural context, while utopian irrigation communities in northern Colorado and California faced a tumultuous situation from the outset. The first state engineers, like Elwood Mead in Wyo- ming, helped codify norms and standards of water appropriation and use. Con- cepts of beneficial use, waste, and the duty of water were designed to respond to variations in cultural as well as environmental conditions. Federal Indian irrigation policies have, with recent exceptions in the South- west and Pacific Northwest, been stagnant or regressive for much of this century (Burton, 1991; DuMars et al., 1984; Folk-Williams, 1982; Jacobson, 1989; McCool, 1987; McGuire et al., 1993~. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Indian reservations had implicit agricultural purposes, but no clear water rights. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a clear ruling in 1908 that Indian reservations do have water rights reserved for the purposes of the reservation, including irrigation. Despite dramatic change in the legal situation, only about 70 Indian irrigation projects have been authorized, and only a small number of water rights settle- ments have been enacted. Indeed, the situation has been complicated by efforts by tribes to use their water rights for other purposes, including water marketing and fisheries protection. The latter use recalls an earlier era when the cultural heritage of fishing, although greater than that of irrigation, was ignored by the dominant culture a lesson for every field and aspect of environmental use and enjoyment.6 Even in pre-historic times, changes in the culture occurred. It has been suggested, for instance, that the abandonment of Hohokam canal irrigation in- volved in-migration by nonagrarian groups that altered the social organization of the region and destabilized large-scale irrigation (Doyel and Plog, 1980~. A1- though other factors were certainly at work, the point is that cultural change alters, for better or worse, the vulnerability, resilience, and adaptability of irriga- tion systems. These examples of cultural heritage and change raise basic questions for policy makers. What are the cultural heritage values associated with irrigation agriculture? What difference do heritage values make when land, water, and commodity markets change? These questions are beginning to be addressed in local areas facing water transfer pressures. But even in those places, greater

THE CULTURES OF IRRIGATION 33 effort is needed to appraise the cultural value of irrigation agriculture relative to other activities within a changing regional, national, and international context. As the cultural context of irrigated regions changes, it will be necessary to docu- ment and respond to the changing values associated with irrigation. When such values are significant, what are the options for ensuring that they are considered when decisions are made? There is a large literature on economic and institutional aspects of heritage conservation, but there have been few sys- tematic applications to irrigation. Which conservation options lead to viable, sustainable irrigation cultures? Which are likely to obstruct beneficial change? Which are likely to yield only "museum pieces," rather than the proper revitaliza- tion of some irrigation cultures and retirement of others? These questions lead to others: What aspects of contemporary irrigation are likely to be valued by future generations? Which actions, taken today, would secure or undermine those values? Expansion of irrigation in humid and urban environments will bring cultural changes and encounter new cultural contexts. What lessons can be drawn from the expansion of irrigation in other regions? What experiments, designed in these new environments, could identify new op- tions for the older irrigated areas of the country? In each case, there is a need to determine which aspects of irrigation endure and which become truly obsolete within a changing cultural context. Cultural Diversity Irrigation encompasses an extraordinary diversity of technologies and social forms from pre-historic times to the present. Although frequent reference is made to the great Hohokam canal builders of central Arizona, it is important to recognize that they (like irrigators today) coexisted with many other types of irrigators (Cordell, 1984; Downing and Gibson, 1974~. Floodplain gatherers and floodfarmers worked the major, less controllable, channels of the Colorado and Rio Grande rivers (Bryan, 1929, 1941~. Runoff harvesting, pebble mulching, and water spreading developed over broader hillslopes and plateaulands (Lightfoot, 1990~. Check dams were constructed in narrow valleys of intermittent streams; local springs, wells, and pots brought water to small garden plots (Force, 1963~. Large-scale irrigation canals only developed along managable, mid-sized, peren- nial streams (Doyel and Plog, 1980; Haury, 1976; McGuire and Schiffer, 1982~. These diverse patterns arose in part through contact with Mesoamerican irrigation centers and partly through indigenous innovation (Doolittle, 1990; Palerm, 1973~. Each type of irrigation was shaped by external as well as local pressures and opportunities. The nineteenth century witnessed the expansion and introduction of new irrigation cultures and the decline of others. Hispanic irrigation, initially estab- lished in the late sixteenth century, expanded in the Rio Grande valley, central Texas, southern Arizona, and coastal California (Dobkins, 1959; Hutchins, 1928;

34 A NEW ERA FOR IRRIGATION Meyer, 1984; Simmons, 1972~. African-Americans introduced and adapted wa- ter management and cultivation technologies in the southeastern states (Carney, 1993~. Mormons settled central Utah and a constellation of outlying oases (Alexander, 1994; Arrington, 1975~. Diverse groups began to irrigate across the western states. English and Scottish farmers established irrigated ranches in Wyoming; Germans in Texas. Italian stonemasons worked on reclamation dams. Chinese laborers reclaimed large areas of the Sacramento River floodplain and San Joaquin delta (Chan, 1986~. Other groups arrived in the early twentieth century, including Punjabi and Japanese irrigators in California (Leonard, 1992; Takaki, 1990~. In the late twentieth century, irrigators are increasingly engaged in diversifi- cation of farm operations, farm income generation, and manifold varieties of "niche farming" (efforts to develop new combinations of local markets, products, technologies, and agronomic conditions). Large-scale irrigation and ranching operations continue, but they are accompanied by new patterns of urban, recre- ational, and specialty horticultural irrigation. The overall picture of irrigation thus continues to be diverse, though some forces serve to increase diversity while others reduce it. Immigration and innova- tion, for example, increase diversity in their early stages but may ultimately reduce it as existing groups and practices are displaced. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries successful American Indian irrigators such as the Pima of central Arizona were reduced to poverty by upstream diverters (Hackenberg, 1983~. Asian irrigators in the western states were first encouraged and then severely persecuted. Mexican workers were hired as laborers for low wages and with little prospect of eventually farming for themselves. Efforts to reduce diver- sity in the early twentieth century seem to be giving way to celebrations of diversity (e.g., diversity festivals in towns such as Yuma, Arizona) in the late twentieth century. Diversity has had mixed connotations. Sometimes regarded as an inherent, idealistic quality of American culture, it has at other times been viewed as a problem to be addressed by assimilation policies. In addition to policies aimed at assimilating American Indians and immigrants, governments have imposed large- scale technologies, regulations, and financial policies in areas that supported a wider range of social groups and irrigation practices (Hall, 1886; Hundley,1992~. The diversity of pre-historic irrigation strategies offers several useful analo- gies. Ethnobotanists and ethnohistorians have shown that Pima and Papago (Tohono Oodham) irrigators varied their mix of irrigation and food gathering activities in response to climatic variability (Castetter and Bell, 1942; Dobyns, 1974; Hackenberg, 1983; Nabhan, 1979, 1989~. Recent research indicates that while some Hohokam groups engaged in intensive canal irrigation, other subgroups used more extensive water management and cultivation methods (Gummerman, 1991~. Paleohydraulic research further indicates that many Hohokam canals oper- ated for relatively brief periods of 50 to 100 years, or less, before being replaced by

THE CULTURES OF IRRIGATION 35 other canals that were less subject to flood hazards, more able to deliver water to large areas, or more advantageous for some villages than others (Howard, 1993~. These studies indicate that different culture groups undertook incremental adjust- ments to flood, drought, desertification, and disaster in ways that yielded a di- verse mix of adaptive, and for the most part sustainable, irrigation strategies. Some techniques (e.g., water harvesting, native crops) are being reexamined and adapted for possible future use (Evenari et al., 1982; Nabhan, 1989~. Linkages between cultural diversity and economic diversification enabled irrigators to ad- iust to variable environmental conditions. Hohokam canal irrigation raises questions about the limits of adjustment in large-scale specialized irrigation systems. Canal irrigators did employ mixed strate- gies of food production, but they were more tied to a complex, maintenance-inten- sive, and highly productive system of cultivation than their neighbors. Despite continuous adjustment of irrigation practices, which buffered them against certain types of environmental variability, they were ultimately vulnerable to large-scale systemic collapse. These themes diversity, flexibility, and adjustment changed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. On the one hand, the modern irrigators ex- perimented boldly with crops, technologies, institutions, and labor practices (Mead, 1903; Moses, 1986; Robinson, 1977; Smith, 1986; Smythe,1905~. These experiments sometimes involved new social groups, new irrigation practices, and new market niches thereby creating new irrigation cultures. On the other hand, processes of modern diversification were followed by increasingly rapid diffu- sion of technology, crops, institutions, and people, which actively serve to reduce diversity to obtain uniform products and economies of scale. Some have main- tained themselves for several generations or more, while others have had to seek new markets, and new environmental and cultural niches or shift to other occu- pations. Several conclusions seem relevant for the future of irrigation. First, the history of irrigation is characterized by enormous diversity, which, in principle and in some respects de facto, has been valued by American society. In addition to the inherent value of diversity in a democratic society, it has practical value for risk management, entrepreneurship, and innovation. Because diversity is a dy- namic process not a static relation it calls for policies that support innovation, risk management, adjustment to local conditions, broad social participation, and access to resources. Access to water is a precondition for cultural and ecological diversity; when denied, it is a source of conflict. Cultural Conflict and Cooperation Some of the most inspiring, and painful, lessons of irrigation date to the middle and late nineteenth century, when large-scale population movements dis- placed indigenous cultures and reworked the water resources of their settlement

36 A NEW ERA FOR IRRIGATION frontier for mining, farming, and ranching purposes. These processes involved remarkable instances of cooperation, and also bitter conflicts. In addition to conflicts with American Indians over land and water, irrigators had uneven rela- tions with other economic groups. Irrigators established themselves in some areas to serve small populations of miners, travelers, trappers, forts, ranchers, and traders. Where mixed activities flourished, they sometimes came into conflict- as when hydraulic mining destroyed water quality, stream channels, and down- stream irrigated lands. Federal reclamation policy sought, in part, to "settle" the western territories, that is, to populate them and to substitute a sedentary stable agrarian economy and society for more volatile and transient activities. Later, when flourishing irrigation economies contributed to population growth and com- mercial expansion, it sometimes led to competition for limited water supplies and environmental conflict. Cooperation and conflict are perennial in irrigated areas. Pre-historic irriga- tion systems involved high levels of community cooperation for construction, maintenance, cultivation, and settlement. The archeological record of economic competition and political conflict is limited, but ethnohistorical evidence sug- gests that pre-historic irrigators faced a variety of internal and external conflicts that affected the sustainability of their irrigation systems. In the sixteenth century, Hispanic land and water development extended across central Texas, the Rio Grande valley, southern Arizona, and coastal Cali- fornia, adapting water management practices and institutions derived from Span- ish, Roman, and Islamic sources (Baade, 1992; Dobkins, 1959; Ebright, 1979; Glick, 1972; Greenleaf, 1972; Meyer, 1984; Simmons, 1972~. Some of these water systems were built with slave labor, while others involved inspiring pat- terns of community cooperation for canal management combined with private and collective property rights (Hutchins, 1928; Meyer, 1984~. Although these rights and the rights of Pueblo Indians were formally recognized in the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo (1848), conflicts continued to arise over the legal status and protection of community irrigation practices (Brown and Ingram, 1987; Crawford, 1989). Inspiring lessons of cooperation may also be drawn from the Mormon expe- rience in central Utah and surrounding areas. The Mormon's combination of egalitarian sharing of resources and risks with strong hierarchical decision mak- ing helps account for their success in building irrigation systems and communi- ties. Although church control gave way to civil government in Utah rather quickly, it continued to influence community water management in less formal ways (Alexander, 1994; Arrington, 1975~. Many small towns in Utah retain the original pattern of large ditches serving fields outside the town and a network of smaller ditches running along streets for family gardens in town (Wescoat, l990~. Several groups that sought to emulate the Mormon example had mixed re- sults. Utopian and planned agricultural communities like Greeley, Colorado, had high aspirations, but they were not able to attain or maintain the level of commu

THE CULTURES OF IRRIGATION 37 nity cohesion needed to face internal and external pressures (Boyd,1897~. To be fair in the comparison, they settled in areas of more rapid land development with members of varied backgrounds and goals. But as conflicts arose, these experi- ments were abandoned for state-based systems of water rights administration. Most states built on the pluralistic frontier precedents established in miner's courts and people's courts (Moses, 1986~. They established ditch companies, irrigation districts, and conservancy districts as civic institutions dedicated to cooperative water development and management. Recently, these groups have been joined by a growing number of nongovernmental alliances of agricultural, environmental, ethnic, and urban groups with interests in local watersheds (Natu- ral Resources Law Center, 1996; Young and Congdon, 1994~. It is encouraging to observe progress toward negotiated settlements for issues of longstanding conflict in California, such as, the bay-delta dispute, the Monterey agreement, and water banking and transfer proposals. Equally encouraging is the formation of new groups specializing in alternative dispute resolution and negotiation (Moore, 1995), although progress in this field has not been as rapid as was once expected. Before turning to the legacy of conflict, it is important to review, again, the extraordinary diversity of nineteenth century irrigation practices. A wide variety of farmers and communities adapted practices from the eastern states for the arid West. African-Americans had transferred rice irrigation practices from Gambia to South Carolina (Carney, 1993~. Chinese immigrants played a central role in the reclamation of the Sacramento River floodplains and delta (Chan, 1986~. Indians from the Punjab irrigated lands in the Imperial and Central valleys of California, regions very similar to, and influenced by irrigation practices in, colonial India (Jensen, 1988; Leonard, 1992; Wescoat, 1994~. American water engineers and lawyers drew practical lessons from Italy and France, as well as India and Egypt (Davidson, 1875; Hilgard, 1886; Jackson et al., 1990; Kinney, 1912; Wilson, 1890-1891~. It is little wonder that new types of conflict, and conflict resolution, arose in this rapidly changing heterogeneous environment. The diversity of irrigation in some areas lacked any coherence. The first California state engineer, William Hammond Hall, wrote despairingly of the Central Valley that: Here have met . . . customs of the civil law countries of southern Europe, as modified by Mexican practice; the common law water-course rulings of Eng lish courts; and a mining water-right jurisprudence, with customs locally evolved under new conditions. Here also have met, to develop this industry and make laws for its governance, people from all parts of the world and in all grades of circumstances, hardly any of whom had the slightest idea of water right systems or irrigation customs, legislation, administration or practice. (Hall, 1886, p. 5)

38 A NEW ERA FOR IRRIGATION The resolution of this eclectic state of affairs took two paths: cultural conflict, and new institutions to facilitate water development and conflict resolution. Early in the nineteenth century, it was widely recognized that some groups were violently displacing others. Anglo settlers in the Salt and Gila drainages of Arizona drove Pima irrigators from a profitable cash cropping livelihood to welfare dependence during the last three decades of the nineteenth century (Hackenberg, 1983~. Upstream Anglo communities disrupted downstream Anglo irrigation at Greeley, Colorado. Hunters, pastoralists, and mobile farming groups lost access to natural water sources and customary water uses with the expansion of seden- tary irrigation and the property rights regimes designed to serve it. As Edward Spicer wrote in 1962, it was the latest "cycle" in three centuries of conquest (Limerick, 1987~. Early Asian irrigators who had helped reclaim difficult lands were violently abused, deported, and in some cases stripped of their citizenship. Water was just one dimension of these social injustices and conflicts. Among the many sobering lessons to be drawn, three seem pertinent here. First, the displacement of some groups by others was sometimes portrayed as natural, necessary, or appropriate as an instance of the strong and efficient replacing the weak and less productive. Comparable arguments are being addressed toward some irrigators today. How should such arguments be assessed in the light of past experience? Second, many of the impacts of water development on American Indian tribes were known as they were occurring. Although protested by some, they were simply ignored by most (Merritt, 1984~. Significantly, the impacts of water development on tribes are continuing. Are there other, comparable, underappreciated, conflicts to- day. If so, how might they affect the future of irrigation? (Burton, 1991; Jacobson, 1989; McCool, 1987~. Third, the historical literature on irrigation is suffused with high ideals of cooperation and conciliation. Where have such ideals actually guided human action, and where have they been merely rhetorical? It hardly bears repeating that despite Supreme Court recognition of Indian water rights in 1908,7 and the moral language of treaties, few tribes have obtained their rightful share of material irrigation benefits to date. In some cases, the adoption of irrigation institutions (e.g., water rights, irri- gation district laws, and administrative systems) accelerated the trends mentioned above. In other cases, it promoted inefficient patterns of water ownership and use. But the development of irrigation institutions was in many respects a re- markable achievement with constructive lessons for the future. Irrigation institu- tions provided principles and procedures for defining rights to water and resolv- ing conflicts among water rights holders. They established organizations to serve collective and increasingly complex social aims, along with rules and regulations to govern those organizations. They asserted that, in contrast with land, water rights are limited and do not include a right to waste. In future efforts to reform irrigation institutions, three points seem important.

THE CULTURES OF IRRIGATION 39 First, irrigation is a cultural as well as economic and political system. The cultural character of irrigation institutions accounts in part for their resistance to change; an understanding of this cultural dimension might facilitate constructive change and conflict resolution. Second, it is important not to lose sight of the enduring value and efficacy of modern examples of cooperation and conflict resolution in irrigation. Otherwise, future generations may find themselves try- ing to recover what was lost from the middle and late twentieth century as well as from earlier periods. Third, it is important to focus on inventing new forms of cooperation that transcend the costly and historically entrenched patterns of con- flict that involve water and related land resources, such as alternative methods of dispute resolution and mediation. Knowledge Systems in Irrigation: Past, Present, and Future It is useful to situate the preceding themes within an encompassing theme of irrigation knowledge systems, which speaks directly to issues of policy and re- search. Knowledge systems include ways of learning and knowing, as well as the types of knowledge obtained, and the relationships between that knowledge and productive human activity. Modern irrigators report rapid adoption of some innovations, such as the annual adoption of new seed varieties, and the (rela- tively) slow development and diffusion of others, such as the 10 to 15 years for certain subsurface drip irrigation technologies (H. Wuertz, personal communica- tion, 1995~. Farmers' "learning curves" vary in accordance with their specific farming situations and pressures, their learning styles, and the relationship be- tween their patterns of communication and decision making. In a rare scientific simulation of the diffusion of irrigation decisions and technologies, Leonard Bowden (1965) found that the diffusion of center pivot irrigation in eastern Colorado could be best predicted by two types of communication telephone contacts and personal conversations at barbecues! Some ancient indigenous knowledge systems have endured. The Zuni tribe of New Mexico still draws on traditional agronomic and spiritual practices (Enote, 1995~. The tribe is also experimenting with high-tech geographical information systems (GIS) and global positioning systems (GPS), and seeking ways to com- bine the old and the new. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon follow a "tribal philosophy of balance and harmony" to seek cooperative solutions to water conflicts (fliers, personal communication, 1995~. Their Interim Water Code (1981, as amended through 1994) balances this tribal philosophy with widespread traditions of western water law. How will tribal knowledge systems be translated into strategies for water use, and what are the implications for irrigated agriculture? Knowledge systems from the early-modern era also persist, with continuous adaptations and adjustment. Renewed attention is being given to Hispanic acequia irrigation and related economic initiatives (Pulido,1993~. The history of irrigation is

40 A NEW ERA FOR IRRIGATION a lively topic in current debates about the "new western history" (Hundley, 1992; Pisani, 1992; Tyler, 1992; Worster, 1985~. Investigations have focused on the historical development and meaning of modern irrigation organizations, projects, leaders, and laws, as well as the more traditional topic of early agricultural settle- ment. One continuing debate concerns the proper relations among individual irriga- tors, irrigation organizations, and government agencies. As early as 1874, the reputed environmental observer George Perkins Marsh wrote about the "evils" of irrigation. Maass and Anderson (1978) argued that, contrary to Wittfogel, irrigation organizations had effectively used federal programs to advance their local ends. Donald Worster (1985), by contrast, used Wittfogel's arguments to show how fed- eral agencies colluded with large California agribusinesses to gain control over land, water, and labor in the region. Both arguments have merit for specific areas and events, but neither describes the whole picture. Another debate concerns the passing of the "water buffaloes" and "lords of yesterday" who built the massive agricultural and urban plumbing systems of the past century. Critics assert that those systems served some groups well in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but they do not serve the emerging interests of society well at all (Limerick, 1987; Wilkinson, 1988~. Irrigation will continue to be part of the cultural heritage in many areas and a vital economic sector in some, but it will no longer be the centerpiece of long-term water plan- ning, use, and power. Although hotly debated, these interpretations are increasingly influential. At stake are not just the number of acres irrigated, bushels harvested, and acre-feet diverted. There are also serious policy concerns about the economic and environ- mental performance of irrigation systems, the adjustments needed to fulfill com- peting demands, and equity issues in water use and reallocation. CONCLUSION In question in all of these cultural issues are the lessons, meaning, and value of irrigation. Although it is easy to abuse history, it would be an error to assess current irrigation problems without studying the full record of experience and experiments that created them and that might lead beyond them. Some lessons are inspiring, while others are tragic many are changing as society rethinks the past as well as the future of irrigation. Because historical and cultural studies arise from present-day concerns, they shed light on the knowledge systems of the present. They remind us that modern irrigation systems have complex cultural roots, and that they are cultural, as well as economic, institutional, technological, and ecological. In some respects, post- war irrigation science and policy made radical breaks with the past, comparable with the Green Revolution in other parts of the world. These advances in water management and crop production involved ecological and social costs and risks that sparked detailed attention and debate.

THE CULTURES OF IRRIGATION 41 More recently, irrigation cultures have been experimenting with new combi- nations of past, present, and future knowledge conjoining new technologies and business practices with traditional values, and traditional technologies with new values. These experiments respond to changing local, national, and global situa- tions. They seek to articulate local economic activity with larger regional and global markets. They arise from citizen initiatives and coalitions, supported but not led by government programs and personnel. They seek to balance environmental, social, and economic interests. Finally, they seek more efficient, flexible, and cooperative approaches to conflict resolution. These experiments have fundamental significance for the future character and sustainability of irrigation agnculture. It is sobenng, however, that scientific research on the social aspects of irrigation is advancing further in Asia and other parts of the world than in the United States a situation that suggests that greater attention be given to comparative international research as well as social investi- gation of U.S. irrigation planning and policy. NOTES 1. Webster's New World Dictionary, Second Edition, Simon & Schuster, 1982, at 345. 2. Xeriscaping refers to a range of landscape design concepts that reduce water use. 3. These ideological values should not be exaggerated, relative to the simple economic aims of irrigators, but neither should they be dismissed as merely special interest attitudes. 4. For example, Wyoming under Elwood Mead developed the rule that one cubic foot per second of water diverted during the irrigation season was enough to irrigate 70 acres of land. Later, several other states adopted a rule of apportioning some maximum number of acre-feet of water per acre. For example, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska place a limit of three acre-feet per acre (Getches, 1984). 5. The doctrine of beneficial use is most fully developed in the western states, while the some what broader concept of reasonable use generally applies in the eastern states. Some states use both concepts. 6. Fish protection and multiple use of streams was common in the early legislation of territories like Colorado and was not abandoned for wholesale stream diversion uses until the 1870s. 7. Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564, 28 S.Ct. 207, 52 L.Ed. 340 (1908). REFERENCES Alexander, T. G. 1994. Stewardship and enterprise: The LDS Church and the Wasatch Oasis Environment, 1847-1930. Western Historical Quarterly 25:341-364. Arrington, L. J. 1975. A different mode of life: Irrigation and society in nineteenth century Utah. Agricultural History 49:3-20. Baade, H. W. 1992. Roman law in the water, mineral, and public land law of the southwestern United States. The American Journal of Comparative Law 40:865-877. Bates, S., D. Getches, L. MacDonnell, and C. Wilkinson. 1993. Searching Out the Headwaters: Change and Rediscovery in Western Water. Covelo and Washington, D.C.: Island Press. Bowden, L. 1965. Diffusion of the Decision to Irrigate. Research Paper No. 97. Chicago, Ill.: Department of Geography, University of Chicago. Boyd, D. 1897. Irrigation near Greeley, Colorado. Washington, D.C.

42 A NEW ERA FOR IRRIGATION Brown, F. L., and H. M. Ingram. 1987. Water and Poverty in the Southwest. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press. Bryan, K. 1929. Flood-water farming. Geographical Review 19:444-456. Bryan, K. 1941. Pre-Columbian agriculture in the Southwest as conditioned by periods of alleviation. Annals of the Association of American Geographers xxxi:219-242. Burton, L. 1991. American Indian Water Rights and the Limits of the Law. Lawrence, Ks.: University Press of Kansas. Carney, J. A. 1993. From hands to tillers: African expertise in the South Carolina rice economy. Agricultural History 67:1. Castetter, E. F., and W. H. Bell. 1942. Pima and Papago Agriculture. Inter-American Studies No. 1. Albuquerque, N. Mex.: University of New Mexico. Chan, S. C. 1986. This Bittersweet Soil: The Chinese in California Agriculture, 1860- 1910. Berke- ley, Calif.: University of California Press. Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. 1981-1994. Interim Water Code. Pendleton, Ore. Corbridge, J. N., Jr., ed. 1984. Special Water Districts: Challenge for the Future. Boulder, Colo.: Natural Resources Law Center. Cordell, L. S. 1984. Prehistory of the Southwest. New York: Academic. Coward, E. W., Jr., ed. 1980. Irrigation and Agricultural Development in Asia: Perspectives from the Social Sciences. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. Crawford, S. 1989. Mayordomo: Chronicle of an Acequia in Northern New Mexico. New York: Anchor Books. Davidson, G. 1875. Irrigation and Reclamation of Land for Agricultural Purposes in India, Egypt, Italy, etc. Executive Doc. No. 94. U.S. Senate, 44th Cong. Washington, D.C. Dobkins, B. 1959. The Spanish Element in Texas Water Law. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press. Dobyns, H. F. 1974. The Kohatk: Oasis and Akchin horticulturalists. Ethnohistory 21:317-327. Doolittle, W. E. 1990. Canal Irrigation in Prehistoric Mexico: The Sequence of Technological Change. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press. Downing, T., and M. Gibson. 1974. Irrigation's Impact on Society. Anthropological Paper No. 25. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona. Doyel, D., and F. Plog, eds. 1980. Current Issues in Hohokam Prehistory. Anthropological Re- search Papers No. 23. Tempe, Ariz.: Arizona State University. DuMars, C. T., M. O'Leary, and A. E. Utton. 1984. Pueblo Indian Water Rights: Struggle for a Precious Resource. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press. Ebright, M. 1979. Manuel Martinez's Ditch Dispute: A Study in Mexican Period Custom and Justice. New Mexico Historical Review 54: 21-34. Enote, J. 1995. Conservation at Zuni Pueblo: Lessons in Sustainability. Conference on Sustainable Use of the West's Water. Boulder, Colo.: Natural Resources Law Center. Evenari, M., et al. 1982. The Negev: The Challenge of a Desert. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Folk-Williams, J. A. 1982. What Indian Water Means to the West: A Sourcebook. Santa Fe, N. Mex.: Western Network. Forde, C. D. 1963. The Hopi and Yuma: Flood farmers in the North American desert. In Habitat, Economy and Society: A Geographical Introduction to Ethnology. New York: E.P. Dutton. Pp. 220-259. Getches, D. 1984. Water Law in a Nutshell. St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co. Glantz, M., ed. 1988. Societal Responses to Regional Climate Change: Forecasting by Analogy. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press. Glick, T. F. 1972. The Old World Background of the Irrigation System of San Antonio, Texas. Southwestern Studies No. 35. E1 Paso, Tex.: University of Texas at E1 Paso. Greenleaf, R. E. 1972. Land and water in Mexico and New Mexico, 1700-1821. New Mexico Historical Review 47:85-112.

THE CULTURES OF IRRIGATION 43 Gummerman, G. J., ed. 1991. Exploring the Hohokam: Prehistoric Desert Peoples of the American Southwest. Albuquerque, N. Mex.: University of New Mexico Press. Hackenberg, R. A. 1983. Pima and Papago ecological adaptations. In Handbook of North Ameri can Indians, Vol. 10. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Pp. 161-177. Hall, W. H. 1886. Irrigation Development. Sacramento, Calif.: State Of lice. Haury, E. W. 1976. The Hohokam, Desert Farmers and Craftsmen: Excavations at Snaketown, 1964-1965. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press. Helman, D. A. 1988. Analogical Reasoning: Perspectives of Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science, and Philosophy. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Hilgard, E. W. 1886. Alkali Lands. University of California, College of Agriculture, App. 7. Sacramento: State Office, J.J. Ayers, Supt. State Printing. Hodge, F. W. 1893. Prehistoric irrigation in Arizona. American Anthropologist VI:323-330. Howard, J. B. 1993. A paleohydraulic approach to examining agricultural intensification in Hohokam irrigation systems. In Research in Economic Anthropology, Supplement 7, V. L. Scarborough and B. L. Isaac, eds. Greenwich: JAI Press, Inc. Pp. 263-324. Hundley, N., Jr. 1992. The Great Thirst: Californians and Water, 1770's-1990's. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. Hunt, R., and E. Hunt. 1976. Canal irrigation and local social organization. Current Anthropology 17:389-411. Hutchins, W. A. 1928. The community acequia: Its origin and development. Southwestern Histori- cal Quarterly xxxi:261-284. International Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI). 1993. Annual Report. Columbo, Sri Lanka: IIMI. Jackson, W. T., R. F. Herbert, and S. R. Wee, eds. 1990. Engineers and Irrigation: Report of the Board of Commissioners on the Irrigation of the San Joaquin, Tulare, and Sacramento Valleys of the State of California, 1873. (Reprinted as Engineering Historical Studies No. 5. Fort Belvoir: Office of History, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.) Jacobson, J. E. 1989. A promise made: The Navaho Indian Irrigation Project and water politics in the American West. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder. Jensen, J. M. 1988. Passages from India: Asian Indian Immigrants in North America. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. Kinney, C. S. 1912. A Treatise on the Law of Irrigation and Water Rights etc., 2nd ea., 4 vols. San Francisco, Calif.: Bender-Moss Company. Kroeber, A., and C. Kluckhohn. 1963. Culture: A Conceptual Review of Concepts and Definitions. New York: Vintage. Kromm, D. E., and S. E. White, eds. 1992. Groundwater Exploitation in the High Plains. Lawrence, Ks.: University Press of Kansas. Lacey, M. J., and M. O. Furner, eds. 1993. The State and Social Investigation in Britain and the United States. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press. Lansing, J. S. 1991. Priests and Programmers: Technologies of Power in the Engineered Land- scapes of Bali. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Lee, L. B. 1980. Reclaiming the American West: An Historiography and Guide. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio. Leonard, K. I. 1992. Making Ethnic Choices: California's Punjabi Mexican Americans. Philadel- phia, Pa.: Temple University Press. Lightfoot, D. 1990. The prehistoric pebble-mulched fields of the Galisteo Anasazi: Agricultural innovation and adaptation to environment. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Geography, Uni- versity of Colorado, Boulder. Limerick, P. N. 1987. The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West. New York: W.W. Norton and Co.

44 A NEW ERA FOR IRRIGATION Maass, A., and R. L. Anderson. 1978. ... and the Desert Shall Rejoice: Conflict, Growth and Justice in Arid Environments. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. MacDonnell, L., and T. Rice. 1994. Moving agricultural water to cities: The search for smarter approaches. Hastings West-Northwest Journal 2:27-54. Marsh, G. P. 1874. Irrigation: Its evils, the remedies, and the compensation. 43 Cong. 1 sees., S. Misc. Doc. 55. McCool, D. 1987. Command of the Waters: Iron Triangles, Federal Water Development, and Indian Water. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. McGuire, R. H., and M. B. Schiffer. 1982. Hohokam and Patayan: Prehistory of Southwestern Arizona. New York: Academic Press. McGuire, T. R., W. B. Lord, and M. G. Wallace, eds. 1993. Indian Water in the New West. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press. Mead, E. 1903. Irrigation Institutions. New York: Macmillan Company. Mead, E. 1920. Helping Men Own Farms. New York: Macmillan Company. Merritt, R. H., 1984. The Corps, the Environment and the Upper Mississippi River Basin. Histori- cal Division, Office of Administrative Services, Office of the Chief of Engineers. Washington, D.C. Meyer, M. C. 1984. Water in the Hispanic Southwest: A Social and Legal History, 1550-1850. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press. Mitchell, D. 1995. There's no such thing as culture: Towards a reconceptualization of the idea of culture in geography. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers New Series 20:102- 116. Moore, L. 1995. Regional water planning in New Mexico: An opportunity for citizen involvement in state government. In Sustainable Use of the West's Water. Boulder, Colo.: Natural Resources Law Center. Moses, R. J. 1986. The Historical Development of Colorado Water Law. In Tradition, Innovation and Conflict: Perspectives on Colorado Water Law. L. J. MacDonnell, ed. Boulder, Colo.: University of Colorado, Natural Resources Law Center. Pp. 25-40. Nabhan, G. P. 1979. The ecology of floodwater farming in arid southwestern North America. Agro- Ecosystems 5:245-255. Nabhan, G. P. 1989. Enduring Seeds: Native American Agriculture and Wild Plant Conservation. San Francisco, Calif.: North Point Press. Natural Resources Law Center. 1996. The Watershed Sourcebook: Watershed-Based Solutions to Natural Resources Problems. Boulder, Colo.: Natural Resources Law Center. Palerm, A. 1973. Obras Hidraulicas prehispanicus, en el sistema lacustre del vane de Mexico. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia. Pisani, D. J. 1984. From the Family Farm to Agribusiness: The Irrigation Crusade in California and the West, 1850-1931. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. Pisani, D. J. 1992. To Reclaim a Divided West: Water, Law and Public Policy, 1848-1902. Albu- querque, N. Mex.: University of New Mexico Press. Popper, K. 1964. The Poverty of Historicism. New York: Harper Torchbooks. Pulido, L. 1993. Sustainable development at Ganados del Valle. In Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots. R. D. Bullard, ed. Boston: South End Press. Pp. 123-140. Reisner, M. 1986. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. New York: Penguin Books. Riebsame, W. E., S. Changnon, and T. R. Karl. 1991. Drought and Natural Resource Management in the U.S.: Impacts and Implications of the 1987-89 Drought. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press. Robinson, M. C. 1977. Water for the West: The Bureau of Reclamation, 1902-1977. Chicago, Ill.: Public Works Historical Society. Saarinen, T. F. 1966. Perception of the Drought Hazard on the Great Plains. Research Paper No. 106. Chicago, Ill.: Department of Geography, University of Chicago.

THE CULTURES OF IRRIGATION 45 Shupe, S. 1982. Waste in western water: A blueprint for change. Oregon Law Review 61:483. Simmons, M. 1972. Spanish Irrigation Practices in New Mexico. New Mexico Historical Review 47: 135-150. Smith, C. L. 1972. The Salt River Project: A Case Study in Cultural Adaptation to an Urbanizing Community. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press. Smith, K. L. 1986. The Magnificent Experiment: Building the Salt River Reclamation Project 1890-1917. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press. Smythe, E. A. 1905. The Conquest of Arid America, 2nd ed. Reprint. Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press. Spicer, E. H. 1962. Cycles of Conquest: The Impact of Spain, Mexico and the United States on Indians of the Southwest. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press. Steward, J. H., R. M. Adams, D. Collier, A. Palerm, K. A. Wittfogel, and R. L. Beals. 1955. Irrigation Civilizations: A Comparative Study. Social Science Monographs No. 1. Washington, D.C.: Pan American Union. Takaki, R. 1990. Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian-Americans. New York: Penguin. Tyler, D. 1992. The Last Water Hole: The Colorado-Big Thompson Project and the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. Niwot, Colo.: University Press of Colorado. Uphoff, N. T. 1992. Learning from Gal Oya: Possibilities for Participatory Development and Post- Newtonian Social Science. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. Wescoat, J. L., Jr. 1984. Long-term change in water management systems. In Transactions, Interna- tional Commission on Irrigation and Drainage. New Delhi: International Commission on Irriga- tion and Drainage. Wescoat, J. L., Jr. 1990. Challenging the Desert. In The Making of the American Landscape. M. P. Conzen, ed. Boston, Mass.: Unwin Hyman. Pp. 186-203. Wescoat, J. L., Jr. 1994. Water rights in South Asia and the United States: Comparative perspec- tives, 1873-1993. Paper presented to SSRC Study of Comparative Property Rights. Wilkinson, C. F. 1988. To settle a new land: An historical essay on water law in Colorado and in the American West. In Water and the American West: Essays in Honor of Raphael J. Moses. D. H. Getches, ed. Boulder, Colo.: Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado. Pp. 1-18. Williams, R. 1983. Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. London: Fontana. Wilson, H. M. 1890-1891. Irrigation in India. In 12th Annual Report, U.S. Geological Survey, Part II, Irrigation. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Geological Survey. Worster, D. 1985. Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity and the Growth of the American West. New York: Pantheon Books. Young, T., and C. Congdon. 1994. Plowing New Ground: Using Economic Incentives to Control Water Pollution from Agriculture. Oakland, Calif.: Environmental Defense Fund.

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Irrigated agriculture has played a critical role in the economic and social development of the United States—but it is also at the root of increasing controversy. How can irrigation best make the transition into an era of increasing water scarcity? In A New Era for Irrigation, experts draw important conclusions about whether irrigation can continue to be the nation's most significant water user, what role the federal government should play, and what the irrigation industry must do to adapt to the conditions of the future. A New Era for Irrigation provides data, examples, and insightful commentary on issues such as:

  • Growing competition for water resources.
  • Developments in technology and science.
  • The role of federal subsidies for crops and water.
  • Uncertainties related to American Indian water rights issues.
  • Concern about environmental problems.
  • And more.

The committee identifies broad forces of change and reports on how public and private institutions, scientists and technology experts, and individual irrigators have responded. The report includes detailed case studies from the Great Plains, the Pacific Northwest, California, and Florida, in both the agricultural and turfgrass sectors. The cultural transformation brought about by irrigation may be as profound as the transformation of the landscape. The committee examines major facets of this cultural perspective and explores its place in the future. A New Era for Irrigation explains how irrigation emerged in the nineteenth century, how it met the nation's goals in the twentieth century, and what role it might play in the twenty-first century. It will be important to growers, policymakers, regulators, environmentalists, water and soil scientists, water rights claimants, and interested individuals.

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