All the Water the Law Allows - (Environment in Modern North America) by Christian S Harrison

About the Book

Christian S. Harrison demonstrates in All the Water the Law Allows, the threat of shortage arises not from the local environment but from the American legal system, specifically the Law of the River that governs water allocation from the Colorado River.

Book Synopsis

As the population of the greater Las Vegas area grows and the climate warms, the threat of a water shortage looms over southern Nevada. But as Christian S. Harrison demonstrates in All the Water the Law Allows, the threat of shortage arises not from the local environment but from the American legal system, specifically the Law of the River that governs water allocation from the Colorado River. In this political and legal history of the Las Vegas water supply, Harrison focuses on the creation and actions of the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) to tell a story with profound implications and important lessons for water politics and natural resource policy in the twenty-first century.

In the state with the smallest allocation of the Colorado's water supply, Las Vegas faces the twin challenges of aridity and federal law to obtain water for its ever-expanding population. All the Water the Law Allows describes how the impending threat of shortage in the 1980s compelled the five metropolitan water agencies of greater Las Vegas to unify into a single entity. Harrison relates the circumstances of the SNWA's evolution and reveals how the unification of local, county, and state interests allowed the compact to address regional water policy with greater force and focus than any of its peers in the Colorado River Basin. Most notably, the SNWA has mapped conservation plans that have drastically reduced local water consumption; and, in the interstate realm, it has been at the center of groundbreaking, water-sharing agreements.

Yet these achievements do not challenge the fundamental primacy of the Law of the River. If current trends continue and the Basin States are compelled to reassess the river's distribution, the SNWA will be a force and a model for the Basin as a whole.

Review Quotes

"All the Water the Law Allows is an engaging and well-researched read that sets the dated, but incredibly resilient, thesis of urban centers as monolithic water-grabbing empires on its head. It offers readers a nuanced study of cooperative water management and policy that underscores the dangers of adhering to legal agreements made when the economy of the American West was geared toward agriculture, especially in the face of increasing aridity."--California History


"Harrison's new book on the often-ignored state of Nevada and its allocated share of the Colorado River is a valuable, direct, and insightful contribution. All the Water uses richly detailed archival sources, as well as contemporary interviews with notable Nevada water managers. Harrison provides balance between the policies of water agencies and the actions and influences of individuals. Harrison's volume will be of interest to environmental historians, urban historians, and historians of the American West. It is well written, with insights about the region's current and future water predicament. With its rich insights and direct, concise writing, All the Water the Law Allows is appropriate for both graduate and undergraduate classrooms and is a welcome addition to the literature of water law and history in the west."-- Western Historical Quarterly


"Harrison succinctly outlines the political machinations behind western water policies and capably summarizes the history of land use in southern Nevada...He draws attention to important debates about water use and overuse in the western states and clearly highlights political maneuvers that continue to shape water policy today."--Southwestern Historical Quarterly