The largest water users always have a target on their back anyway from, a political standpoint. Whether they’re the most efficient user of water or not isn’t the point. The point is that folks are going to be looking to them to be above and beyond the call of duty, that we would expect from other water users. These reports provide an insurance plan and a fiduciary report that you’re really tracking that water. Some folks actually use the audit reports to quell concerns, especially if they are big water users.
When you have auditable financial records, and the IRS does come calling, would you rather go in with a shoebox of receipts or would you rather have a very solid auditable chain of where all of your money went? We don’t have an IRS for water conservation, or to ensure compliance at this point, but what we do have is pressure points in state government pushing for conserved water and accountability around ag water.
We tell growers, “You spend a lot of money tracking your money,” and making sure your money is going to the right place. From all of these growers, their primary input mechanism for developing that revenue stream is water, where they use water to grow crop. So you would arguably want to spend a reasonable amount to audit that water stream.