Failure of Local Economies

Water transfers due to rising costs and facilitated water rights trading almost always results in a net reduction of water available to agriculture. While economic water use efficiency is increased on a sate-wide or nation-wide basis, the burdens of water transfers typically fall solely on small rural communities. In La Paz County, Arizona, a community impacted by a net loss of water rights to large municipal areas, nearly all individuals agreed with the statement, ``The losses to the community associated with the transfer of water are of such a nature that they cannot be compensated'' (Gollehon, 1999). The unemployment rate of the county jumped 14% as a direct result of water transfers.