Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America:s Fresh Waters

Abstract

Water is an essential natural resource. The supply of water at any given location is limited, and the limits vary considerably in space. The unprecedented economic development of the United States has been based in part on our ingenuity in providing water to various users, often through the use of elaborate strategies for storing and transporting it. Many of these water supply activities were subsidized by the federal government, in recognition of the critical role of water in economic development.