Water Overuse as a Prisoner’s Dilemma
Western Drought Isn’t Going Anywhere. It’s Time to Rethink Water Use.
The Western United States is currently experiencing its worst drought in 1200 years. As communities and businesses struggle to cope with nearly constant drought conditions, this article points out that fossil fuels and factory farming are largely to blame. Fossil fuels exacerbate climate change which is only worsening the drought. Simultaneously, the industrial scale farming of water hungry crops like alfalfa and tree nuts is consuming groundwater faster than it can be replenished. In fact, 80% of California’s fresh water is utilized for agriculture. The factory farming of cows in Western states in “megadairies” also uses dozens of millions of gallons of water each day. Water overuse hits already disadvantaged communities the hardest. For example, indigenous communities that rely on salmon fishing have been devastated by the collapse of salmon runs in California. Moreover, water overuse decreases water security in the region as wells dry up, and as a result there are one million people in California who already do not have reliable access to clean water.
The issue of water overuse by corporations can be partially explained by game theory. Large agribusinesses in the American West are unwilling participants in a prisoner’s dilemma style problem. It is in the best interest of all the factory farms to practice more sustainable farming to ensure their long-term survival as the drought continues. However, if one farm were to revert to the current practices, that farm would outcompete all the others and eventually put them out of business. Therefore, all the farms abuse the water supply to remain economically competitive. Thus, in this situation every farm’s dominant strategy is to unsustainably deplete the water supply. With this issue in mind, the author of the article believes that the only solution is for the government to step in and enforce sustainable practices across the region, thereby eliminating the farms’ choices and destroying the prisoner’s dilemma.