Water in Colorado is "allocated" and "unallocated." Allocated water is allocated to cities, counties etc. Unallocated water is water left over that is not allocated. The unallocated water is auctioned off through a bidding process.
In April the Denver Post reported that the unallocated water supplies in Colorado had always been claimed exclusively by farmers until this year. But this year, Big Oil Corporations wanting water for fracking outbid Colorado Farmers for "unallocated water."
Even in March, farmers in Colorado were bracing for a potential drought this year due to the mild winter and low level of snowfall.
So, in one of the worst droughts US has seen, and it was predicted, Big Oil Frackers in Colorado got to outbid farmers in their "unallocated water."
In April the Denver Post reported:
The Northern Water Conservancy District runs the auction, offering excess water diverted from the Colorado River Basin — 25,000 acre-feet so far this year — and conveyed through a 13-mile tunnel under the Continental Divide.
Brian Werner of Northern Water said,
WERNER: "Farmers who go to the auctions seeking to produce food are on equal footing with companies seeking water for fracking."
Werner went on to say:
"If you have a beneficial use for the water, then you can bid for that water. We see the beneficial use of the water as a positive for the economy of the whole region. Fracking is one of those uses. Our uses of water have evolved over 150 years."
Nicole Seltzer is a member of the Colorado's state-backed round-table process for addressing water challenges.
Seltzer said the round-table "has made preserving agricultural water in this state a priority. But you have to balance that with a free-market economy."
Meanwhile: Media Headlines say:
In parts of northwest Colorado, drought conditions were upgraded to exceptional, the most severe category of drought, indicating extremely low stream flows, soil moisture and vegetation conditions. Much of the rest of the state is now in the severe drought category, including nearly all of the West Slope, the central mountains including the Continental Divide and big chunk of the eastern plains.
The drought is hurting many Colorado farmers:
Sixty-two of Colorado's 64 counties qualify for federal disaster relief because of drought conditions.
It is my opinion, based off of science, that human life cannot be sustained without food and human life can be sustained without the gas that comes from fracking.
In other words, food is a "need" to sustain animal life whereas, fracking is a "want" and not needed to sustain animal life.
The drought is spreading across America and is killing corn and soy bean plants but by-God the Free Market Big Oil Frackers need water more than farmers do. After all, according to people like Brian Werner the necessity of farmers to grow food is on "equal footing" to Big Oil Fracking.