The real problem is convoluted water rights. Many states along the Colorado River have a “use it or lose it” policy and do not incentivize saving. This same policy is used in corporate budgets, where if you don’t use all the allocated money, your next budget gets cut…. but in this case, your water rights go to someone else.

This isn’t all that’s wrong with the water rights, many make absolutely no sense and are taken advantage of by foreign governments. When the law does not incentive saving water and/or prioritizing agriculture crops that humans eat (not cows in other countries), the technology is not utilized. Water rights need to be changed first… and many haven’t been in over a century.