The Great Plains of North America stretch from Texas to Alberta. The region s history is rich and its population diverse. But throughout this huge area, one issue has dominated culture and politics since before history began to be recorded. The need for water, the disputes over its use and ownership, and the consequences of those uses and disputes are concerns common to everyone who has ever lived here, concerns that grow sharper as water grows scarcer.Local and state governments have attempted to allocate water rights, but their efforts have been piecemeal and often short-sighted. In the...