Early settlers in the town of Dry Gulch drilled wells to pump as much water as they wanted from the single aquifer beneath the town. (An aquifer is an underground body of water.) As more people settled in Dry Gulch, the aquifer level fell and new wells had to be drilled deeper at higher cost. Compared to a town in which all residents collectively decide on how much water to use, water use will likely be in Dry Gulch. Select one: a. higher b. the same c. lower d. the same or lower

a. higher

Explanation:

When the water level started to go down in Dry Gulch, people took the step of digging more aquifer to fulfill the requirement of the water. They did not took the initiative of asking a sustainable use of water or deciding to save water. In turn, they adopted to extract more water by digging more wells. On the other hand, the people in the other town decided to save water and agreed upon using the water carefully. Hence, in this scenario, the use of water had gone high in Dry Gulch than the other town.