Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
for Colorado, we have an infrastructure and distribution problem
more than we have a water problem,” says Lembke. “In most areas
of the country—other than perhaps Nevada and parts of Arizona—
we really don't have a water shortage. We have a thinking shortage.
Usually that's a distribution or planning issue, and they're signifi -
cant. That's where the failures have been, and now you have some
really dry areas where the problems are even bigger.”
Lembke and his associates developed land for commercial and
residential use in Adams and Weld counties in Colorado, and in the
process created a water system to handle others' water needs, too.
That
system
is the United Water and Sanitation District. Lembke says
it's a “facilitating entity” that provides water to other districts and
owns reservoirs and an underground storage facility. United Water
actually is a one-acre parcel of land that's been designated a “special
district,” which gives it the legal right to condemn land and to buy
and sell water rights in what is a perennially very thirsty state.
Don't think Lembke and his associates are one of a kind or
that they're a phenomenon particular to Colorado and the arid
West. There are hundreds more public and private Lembke-types
who have learned to use the laws to their advantage and are poised
to capitalize in the water world. (Pickens capitalized on the special
district approach, too.)
GOVERNMENT'S ROLE
Remember New Berlin, Wisconsin? The water god that city needs
to please is the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. It
wields the power and decides whether New Berlin gets its water.
It did. The water gods' pantheon includes plenty of govern-
ment entities—state and regional governments as well as quasi-
governmental bodies like some river basin commissions and their
leaders and boards, state engineers, and other offi cials charged with
managing water in their states. Let's look at a few.
Water Management Districts
Water management districts take all shapes and forms, from citi-
zen advocacy, oversight, and lobbying entities like the Charles River
