[SrslyJosh]

It's a desert, so potentially nothing.

Do you like having water to drink? Cities are getting squeezed so that these desert farmers (who get the water for free) can feed their cattle or export hay/alfalfa to other countries.

[dragonwriter]

Maybe people should just not expect to settle in a place where senior water rights held by others mean there is no supply of water for them?

[photonthug]

So it is right and proper for a few extended families to determine the fate of an entire region? It's not even one city of millions, it is several we're talking about.

[cratermoon]

You mean the water rights of the Utes, Paiutes, Hope, Diné, Havasu, Mojave, Kumeyaay? I agree.