How the market can keep the scream flowing
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This is a river
This is a stream
This is a river
This is happening all over the country
There are tens of thousands of miles of these water streams in the united states
On this map
The color area is represent the water conflicts
Similar problems are merging in the east as well
The reasons vary state to state but mostly in the details
There are 4000 miles of the water streams in Montana alone
They wouldn't narrowly support fish and other wild life
They are the veins of the eco-system
And they are often empty veins
I want to tell you the story of just one of these streams
Because it's an arc-type for the larger story
This is Prickly Pear Creek
It runs through a populated area from East Helena to Lake Helena
It supports wild fish includes cutthroat,brown and rainbow trout
nearly every year
for more than a hundred years
it looks like this in the summer
How did we get here
well, it starts at the back of late 1800s
when people started settling in places like Montana
and sure there was a lot of water and there were many people
but with more people showed up wiling water they focus was their first get little concerned
and in 1865 Montana passed its first water law
it basically said everybody near the stream can share the stream
utterly a lot of people showed up and wanted to share the stream
and the focus were their first got concerned enough to bring out their lawyers
There were precedent setting suits in 1870 and 1872 both involving in Prickly Pear Creek
And in 1921 the Montana Supreme Court Ruled
in a case involving in Prickly Pear
that the focus were their first had the first or "Senior Water Rights"
the "Senior Water Rights" are key
The problem is that all over the west now are looks like this
Some of these creeks have claims for 5200 times more water than is actually in the stream
and "Senior Water Rights" holders?
if they don't use the water right
they risk losing their water right along with the economic values that goes with it
so they have no incentive to conserve
so it's not just the number of the people
the system itself creates the disincentive to conserve because you can lose your water right if you don't use it
so after decades of lawsuits and 140 years of experience, we still have this
it's a broken system
There is disincentive to conserve
Because if you don't use your water right, you can lose your water right
And I'm sure you all know that it create significant conflicts between the agricultural and environmental communities
OK, now I will change gears here
Most of you will be happy to know that the rest of the presentation is free
And some of you will be happy to know that it involves beer
[LAUGHTER]
There is another thing happening around the ountry which is the companies starting concerned about their water footprint
They are concerning about secured and adquate supply water
They are trying to be efficient with their water use
And they are concerned about how their water use would affect their image of brand
Well, it's a national roblem,then I'll tell you a story from Montana
And, it involves beer
I've actually known it takes about 5 pints of water to make a pint of beer
If you include all the drin, it takes more than 100 pints of water to make 1 pint beer
Now the brewers of Montana have already done a lot to reduce the water consumption
But they still use millions of gallons of water I mean there is water IN beer
So what can they do about this remaining water footprint
They could have serious effects on the ecosystems
These systems are really important to the Montana brewers and their customers
After all, there is strong coalition between water and fishing
And for some, there is strong coalition between fishing and beer!
So the Montana brewers and customers are concerned
and they are looking for some ways to address the problem
so how can they address the remaining water footprint
Remember Prickly Pear
Up till now
Business water stewardship has been limited to measuring and reducing
And we suggest the next step, it is restore
Remember Prickly Pear?
It is a broken system, it has got disincentive to conserve, you should use your water right or lose your water right
But we decide to connect these two worlds
The world of companies with their water footprints
and the world of the farmers with their senior water right on its prics
In some states,senior water rights holders can leave their water in steam while legally protecting it from others
and maintaining their water right.
After all, it is their water right,
nd they want to use that water right to help the fish grow in the stream, it is their right to do so
But, they have no incentive to do so.
So working with the local water trust
we created an incentive to do so
We pay them to leave their water in stream
That's what is happening here
This individual has made the choice and is closing this water diversion, leaving the water in the stream
He doesn't lose the water right
he just chooses to apply the right or some portion of it to the stream instead of the land
Because he is the senior water right holder
he can protect the water from other users of the stream
he gets paid to leave the water in the stream
This guy is measuring the water and just leaves it in the stream
We then take the measured water
we divide into thousands of gallons instruments
Each has a serial number and a certificate
And the brewers and others buy those certificates as a way to return water to the degraded eco-systems
The brewers pay to restore water in the stream
Provides a simply, expensive and measurable way
to return water to their degraded eco-systems
while giving farmers an economic choice
and give businessman concerning about their water footprints an easy way to deal with them
After 140 years of conflict
and 100 years of dry streams
the circumstance of litigation and regulation has not solved
We put together the market-based willing buyer willing seller solution
a solution that does not require litigation
It's about giving focus concerns about their water footprint
a real opportunity to put water where it is critically needed into these degraded ecosystems
While at the same time
providing farmers a meaningful economic choice about how their water is used
This transaction creates allies not enemies
connect people rather than dividing them
and they provide needed economic support for broken communities
And most importantly it's working
we've turned more than 4 billion gallons of water to the degraded ecosystems
We've connected senior water right holders with brewers of Montana
with hotels and tea companies,
with Hi Tech companies which use a lot of water in the southwest
And when we make these connections
we can and we do turn this into this
Thank you very much