A lot of theoretical twaddle
This article ignores the long history of water rights law based on seniority (first come, first served) that has been upheld by the courts for over 100 years. While it's true that parts of it have been usurped by the government because of environmental issues, in many parts of the west it's still the law. It still governs how water is allocated between farms and cities, for example.
The idea that "There is not a water supply crisis" and that all our problems are simply "distributional issues" is pure nonsense. In the western US there is simply not enough water to go around, period. The Colorado River is vastly oversubscribed, even in periods of normal rain and snowfall. California cannot supply adequate water to its farms and cities while also meeting environmental regulations dictated by the courts (e.g., preventing saltwater intrusion into the delta area). Other parts of the world have similar problems.
The idea that water is being wasted by farms is ridiculous. In the western US water is so scarce that farms long ago became very efficient in its use. In the last 40 years or so we have gone from sprinklers spraying water in all directions with a great deal lost to evaporation to very efficient drip irrigation mechanisms for crops that can utilize it (drip irrigation won't work with wheat fields, for example).
In the US water rights are some of the oldest property rights around. It's possible that this is no longer an adequate model for allocation a scarce resource (and it must be scarce if as the article claims environmental demands can't be met without special protection). Certainly issues such as aquifer depletion are not being adequately addressed. But any realistic attempt of reforming water use must take into account the long history of law that supports many business models. Sweeping those laws aside with the stroke of a pen would seriously jeopardize farms and other businesses. Just as there are hidden costs to the environment in our current situation, there are also hidden costs to radically changing it.
