CONCLUSION - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 311

In his lecture, Hirsch drew parallels to this historical scheme. In the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries, American hydrologists measured stream flow, the behavior
of groundwater, and the chemistry of American rivers. “When we look back [at those
studies] now, they help us understand how our nation's rivers have changed chemically
over a hundred years,” Hirsch told the audience. The twentieth century, the period of
“command and degrade,” witnessed massive degradation of surface-water quality (epi-
tomized for the nation by the burning of the Cuyahoga, and for me by the poisoning of
my local waters, such as Newtown Creek and the Housatonic River). This was also the
time of significant groundwater depletion, such as the draining of “fossil water” from
the Ogallala Aquifer by high-capacity pumps and center-pivot irrigation systems, while
point-source pollution and the environmental impact of large dams emerged as nation-
al issues. In 1971, Wolman published a seminal paper in Scienceentitled “ he Nation 's
Rivers,” in which he pointed to how little we knew about the degradation and improve-
ment of rivers and underscored the need for long-term data collection on which to build
informed decisions.
“Our science has followed [Wolman's] pattern and needs to continue” to do so,
Hirsch said, to applause from the crowd.
Hirsch ended his talk by echoing the hope that this will be the century of hydro-
logical restoration. He emphasized the importance of “integrated water management,”
in which the needs of all users are taken into account and where engineered structures
are integrated with natural features—as has been done in the New York City watershed,
where strict water regulations and aggressive land conservation have maintained wa-
ter quality and avoided costly treatment plants. “Today we have some of the most ex-
citing pieces of integrated scientific work focused on restoration in the Everglades, the
San Francisco Bay Delta, the Grand Canyon, the Platte River, and many other places,”
said Hirsch. “We know that these systems … have been severely degraded. Now, in the
twenty-first century, our society has set about to try to restore them—maybe not to a
pristine condition, but clearly to a bettercondition.”
After years of neglect, signs are that Washington is slowly acknowledging that the na-
tion's waters are in trouble and require the kind of careful attention long advocated by
such experts as Bob Hirsch, Bob Moran, Bob Bea, and Peter Gleick.
For now, the nation has only a vague idea of the quality and quantity of its freshwater
supply, and whether there is enough of it to meet future demands. Amazingly, the last
comprehensive census of US water resources was completed by the Water Resources
Council in 1978. But “you can't manage what you don't measure,” say hydrologists, who
have been pushing for a new national census.