Water management, sale and delivery has traditionally been the province of government in the United States. But an interesting story out of Texas heralds some significant potential for change:

In the five years since billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens started trying to sell water from beneath the vast empty spaces of West Texas, he hasn’t had any paying customers.

Not one city or local agency has signed on, even after years of drought conditions and soaring water usage by Texas’ booming population, which is expected to more than double by 2060.

However, officials at Pickens’ company aren’t concerned. And water law experts say they shouldn’t be because, quite simply, the second-most populous state in the nation is running low on water.