Water markets: “a servant of sound governance, not the master”

Some useful insights from Dustin Garrick on water management lessons the western United States can learn from Australia:

Australia’s experience shows that water markets have an important role to play. But they are a servant of sound governance, not the master. Above all, markets are certainly not free, nor are they self-sustaining. Like a marriage, they take steady work to adjust as values change.

The full piece is worth a read.