Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
state, and scientifi c agency—together on a board, and then look at
the entire United States and establish what we have. Where are the
best soils, for example, or the best water supplies? The best aqui-
fers? The best water storage area? The fl attest land? And so on.
This board has to have huge teeth, and start with the premise
that as a nation we're out of water. “This is not business as usual. This
is not about who gets their spade in fi rst or who gets the fi rst bucket
of water,” says Williams. “We're in this to look at future patterns of
growth and development. . . . [We can no longer afford] to build
where there is no water, where there is no good crop-growing soil,
and where there are no roads, and then have to go through a tre-
mendous expense to provide infrastructure to make that happen.
We need to change our pumps-and-pipes engineering approach and
make it more of an ecological planning approach. You can't do it
with brute muscle. There's a dance we need to learn.”
Floating the Idea
The issue of national water policy came up in 2003 at a legis-
lative hearing of the House Committee on Natural Resources'
Subcommittee on Water and Power at which Peter Gleick of the
Pacifi c Institute suggested setting up a national water commission:
4
It is time for a new national water commission. The Pacific
Institute has called for the creation of a National Commission on
Water for the Twenty-First Century to provide guidance and direc-
tion on the appropriate role of the United States in addressing
national and international water issues. The Commission must be
nonpartisan and include representation from across the many dis-
ciplines affected, including the sciences, economics, public policy,
law, governments, public interest groups, and appropriate private
sectors. While the duration of the commission should be fixed,
adequate financial resources should be provided to permit it to
do a serious and effective job.
“We haven't had a serious national effort to analyze water pol-
icy nationwide since the old National Water Commission folded its
doors in the 1970s,” says Colorado State University's Steve Mumme.
