What is the highest and best use of water? That’s a loaded question – ask 10 of your friends and get ready for some long conversations.
Highest and best use is the doctrine that water should be used for the most valuable purposes. Most people probably agree that the highest use is human health and safety – drinking water and fighting house or apartment fires being at the top of the list.
What comes next? The answer depends on where you are, many court cases, what your business is, and right at the root of all human valuations, your world view. Is your view of the world that humans and businesses come first, or that animals and environmental uses are most important? This aspect of who we are, our world 
view, is the foundation of our beliefs and our filter for all information. World view discussions already have 10 million or more blogs so we won’t discuss that here.
Regarding water, what else determines the ranking of best and highest uses? If you live in North Carolina, then rainfall is relatively abundant. Sure, water needs to be moved to where it is needed, but handling floods might be more of a concern than enough rainfall. If you live in a part of the world where surface water is scarce, like California, then every water use competes with others in dry years.
This is a short p
ost and it will be fleshed out in the coming months. For now, everybody have a great week.
