So change the laws.

I know you’re being earnest and understand the conviction behind what you’re saying, but I can’t help imagining that some of these comments are “false flag” posts by the NRA.

Completely overhauling property rights for half of a continent doesn’t come without major resistance. We’re still recovering from the last that that was done.

It’s just not as simple a problem as we’d all like it to be, and it’s not because this senator is in that rancher’s pocket.

All you really need is a tax, and considering how much else can be taxed trying to complain about a water tax for bulk use just seems whiny.

Changing the law ignores the problem. This involves vast amounts of titled property with centuries of history. People respond very poorly to wholesale deprivation of property rights such that the political ramifications cannot be ignored, and the US Constitution puts strict limits on the nature of such deprivations.

This is essentially in the same class of situation as the government deciding to nationalize everyone's private home to solve some Important Problem. There isn't a realistic version of the world where that is a politically viable solution and the costs would be intractably high.

And do what about the geography?

Changing the laws is not something that just happens and solves everything. If we're fixing legal doctrines from westward expansion of the US there is a lot to fix. I'd propose taking back the patchworks of land gifted to the railroads, or at least forcibly consolidate them into contiguous blocks.

Maybe those water rights should be given to the tribes who used to live in the watersheds. Let them set the prices.

As we saw in Kelo, the government can easily take away private property for basically any reason.