In the West you often hear of cities seeking new water supplies by prodding farms to conserve, thereby freeing up water that can be transferred from ag uses to urban uses. But this article from Durango, CO discusses efforts in that state to encourage additional urban conservation in order to maintain ag uses. Colorado has seen fairly aggressive efforts to re-allocate water from ag to urban in recent decades and there has been a lot of concern about the effects this will have on rural communities if irrigated agriculture starts to dry up.
California and New Mexico have also had experience with this and similar concerns. This concern shot down legislation that would have created a mechanism to finance water transfers in Arizona last year. So now the farming communities are looking for ways to protect their economies and the farmers that support them. It's a conversation worth having.
