ABSTRACT:Municipal water supply restrictions and/or conservation policies are widely believed to affect urban growth, at least in Western states. An analysis of this issue, drawing upon a wide array of empirical water use research, casts doubt upon the presumed connection. Water availability seems likely to have little effect upon the amenities which draw newcomers to Western cities. It also seems to have little effect upon the locational decisions of industries which affect growth by creating new jobs. Consequently, there is little reason to oppose municipal water restrictions as prejudicial to urban growth or to favor such restrictions in the hope of constraining growth.
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