And in Guyana and Suriname, coastal farmers irrigating with water from river estuaries have had to stop: because of the rivers' weak flow, it was sea-water.

ECONOMIST: The season of El Niño | The

In 1892 an ambitious irrigation engineer and hustler named Charles Robinson Rockwood came up with the first plan to harness the river's wealth, a canal that would funnel water into a dried-out riverbed, irrigating the surrounding desert.

FORBES: American Pyramids

Mr Scott testified in a hearing before Wyoming's water authority, the state board of control, that he had been irrigating all along.

ECONOMIST: Western water rights