I live out in the country where if people aren't helping each other, they are at least staying out of the way. And when the offcials get too far out over their skis, the landowners do something about it.
At one point recently, our county commissioners were mad that so many people were moving in from California, so they limited well sizes to the point where it would be difficult to build a house. The ranchers got pissed off at that because they needed the "excess" flow for the cattle and forced the commissioners to change the policy.
That's the way things work put here.