Competition from environmental and instream uses will be pervasive but most intense in the Pacific Northwest where additional instream flows may be required to support anadromous fish, hydroelectric power generation, and navigation. Native American claims on western water supplies are potentially very large, particularly in central and southern Arizona. While it is unlikely that many of these claims will be settled, settlements favoring Native Americans would likely result in the shifting of some irrigated agriculture in Arizona to reservation lands. Settlements requiring additional instream flows could affect agricultural water supplies adversely in the Pacific Northwest and in specific locales elsewhere. Historically, western growers generally have been both adaptive and innovative and thus have been able to adjust to change successfully.
Many strategies are available to growers attempting to adapt to the future.
New and emerging means of adaptation will continue to evolve. Technologies permitting automation of irrigation systems and allowing water to be managed more precisely are developing. The advent of biotechnology adds greatly to the possibilities of developing new varieties of crops that are cheaper to produce because they require less water and other inputs but also yield products of superior quality. Innovations in the management of farming operations also should allow growers to adapt to changing and less favorable circumstances. Most of the laws and institutions governing and guiding irrigated agriculture were developed in another era and are ill suited to one in which premiums will be placed on efficient water use, flexibility, and adaptability.