 You hear that? That's water being sucked through a head gate. Now across most of Wyoming, more water will evaporate during the year than will fall as rain or snow. That's why we irrigate. Mark Twain said, whiskey's for drinking and water is for fighting. It's because water vastly increases land productivity, value, and ability to sustain Wyoming's agriculture. In Wyoming, water is owned by the state and rights to use the water are issued by the state through the Wyoming State Engineer's Office. Though there are other permitted uses, irrigation is by far the greatest user of Wyoming water. Like most western states, the oldest rights get first dibs on stream flow. The oldest water rights on a stream are allowed two cubic feet per second per 70 acres of land. That figures out to be about 15 gallons a second for a 70-acre piece. In more familiar terms, it's about like sprinkling an inch and four-tenths of water on your lawn every other day. Now when stream flow isn't abundant, younger water rights are shut off in favor of older water rights. That's a mighty frustrating prospect for a junior water right, and it's the source of Mark Twain's observation. From the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service, I'm Eric Peterson.