Common term for a group of independent feudal lords in the Eastern Dusts (all currently barons) whose power derives from control of the irrigation system. Their power has been diminished by improved well-drilling technologies which allow some arid communities to have water without pledging fealty to a water lord or engaging in extensive cloud-herding.
The greatest of the Water Lords was once the Baron of the Valley of Yore, who controlled over 2000 square kilometers of arable land and extracted tribute from most of the towns north of the Dusty Mountains Pass, but that barony was almost entirely destroyed by a sudden failure of the local aquifer in 2921 AE and the rapid expansion of the crystal forest down the Valley of Yore, causing the last great famine in the Eastern Dusts.
Contemporary Water Lords are baron Red Baron XI, of the Red Manor; baroness Autumn Sun of Straw Dale; the lady Holymane of Twin Rivers, and baron Paragon Spark of Sparks. The count of Springvale, Graph Paper, could also be considered a Water Lord. The lord of Dusty Furrows, Dust Dandy, might also be considered a water lord but is obligated by a treaty with Docktown to deliver water to the lands of Saddle Hall, and so the lord of Dusty Furrows has little true power in relation to the water supply outside the dominion.
There are no Water Lords as such in the Western Dusts, and irrigation in New Equestria and other more northern regions of the Isle of Yore is less extensive and not completely essential, as these regions often receive enough precipitation to support drylands farming.