When pressure from below mounts to a certain point, it produces changes above, but the normal course follows the easy path, moving down in controlled trickles to keep the system working. Our natural dependence on water provides a classic parallel to the fundamentals of politics. When there is a sufficient supply for all uses, the system works smoothly, and nature's bounty demands no human interference. Most of the time, however, both water and power are unevenly distributed, and mankind lives under conditions of scarcity, either because there is not enough to go around or because some uses adversely affects others. Most city dwellers are dimly aware of periods of water shortage and strict use regulations, but much more serious conditions prevail in agrarian settings where there is neither enough water for small farms nor political access for the working farmers.
Irrigation provides the most dramatic examples of the fundamental character of water politics.
Civilizations have grown wealthy and powerful because irrigation systems have made it possible to supply food for an increasing population, and the engineering of vast systems is not much different now from what it was thousands of years ago. History does not record that civilization failed because of engineering problems, but there are many failures caused by political problems. The attempt to convert these important decisions into routines of management often produces a top-heavy bureaucracy that exploits the public by extracting bribes and favors in exchange for services that are designed to be automatic. The political economy of corruption in irrigation systems is now well understood by experts in the arts of hydraulic politics, but rarely by the people whom it victimizes. Such neglect renders impossible the sustained commitment upon which the complex system depends.