Feb
17
Message From the President
February 17, 2010 | Posted by smcclung
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Ari M. Michelsen, President AWRA
At its January 22, 2010, meeting, the AWRA Board of Directors (BOD) voted unanimously to donate $1,000 to Mercy Corps’ Haitian earthquake relief effort. Board members have made additional donations. Mercy Corps had a presence in Haiti prior to the earthquake and is now, with experienced on-the-ground first responders, focusing on immediate humanitarian needs: securing clean water, proper sanitation, and trauma support. More information about Mercy Corps is available at www.mercycorps.org.
AWRA Position Statements Adopted
Also at the January BOD meeting, two position statements for AWRA, developed by the membership through the Policy Committee, were reviewed and approved. The recommendations in these statements are to manage water resources in a hydrologic context and to ensure sustainable funding for water resources infrastructure. Specifically the statements are: (1) The AWRA recommends that water resources management goals, policies and rules be organized around the concept of “place” (i.e., basins, watersheds, or aquifer systems). Policymakers should encourage policies and collaborations that promote hydrologic system-based planning and management; and (2) The AWRA recommends that policy makers at national, tribal, state, and local levels develop sustainable investment strategies for the construction and maintenance of water and wastewater resources infrastructure to protect public health, quality of life, communities, economies, and the environment. The complete text of these position statements is available on the web at http://awra.org. These are just the first in a series of statements conveying AWRA positions and efforts to advance multidisciplinary water resources science, education, management, and policy. During the next several months the Policy Committee will be developing several more position statements. Your participation in the development of our organization’s position statements is welcome and strongly encouraged. Go to the AWRA Technical Committees web site section (Membership/Technical Committee) to see the list of Technical Committees and contact terry@ awra.org if you would like to join a Committee.
National Water Resources Vision
In the United States (U.S.), water-resources related roles, responsibilities and authorities are shared or divided between local, state, tribal, and federal governments and the private sector. The federal government has more than 20 agencies responsible for understanding and managing water resources. Each state and many tribes have one or more agencies responsible for managing water resources within their areas of jurisdiction. Additionally, hundreds, if not thousands of private-sector water companies and organizations manage water resources within the U.S. Clearly federal, state, and tribal governments each have specific roles, responsibilities and authorities for managing water resources under their jurisdiction and, clearly, each entity must fulfill its jurisdiction-specific role, responsibilities, and authorities. Many have raised the question of whether water resources programs should be managed independently from one another or whether they should or can be managed more efficiency and effectively for all parties concerned if we could collectively develop an overarching national water vision that promotes a better understanding and better coordination and cooperation among federal, state, and tribal governments, and among the various states. What might a national water vision look like? An example of a national vision for water related to quality was/is the goal of making our nation’s water “fishable, swimmable, drinkable.”
What are the arguments for and against a national water vision? One argument is that a national water vision is necessary to develop and manage our water resources in a systematic, efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective manner. A counter-argument is that water resources are the purview of the states and no national water vision or policy is needed. Another argument promotes a hybrid approach (e.g., a national vision relative to federal interests and independent visions or plans for each state, territory and tribe relative to the resources within its domain).
AWRA has been involved in these and similar discussions for more than a decade through its publications, conferences, and facilitation of four National Water Policy Dialogues (see http://www.awra.org/meetings/conference_series/policy_dialogue.html). Discussions and assessments at the Dialogues focused not only on promoting cooperation and coordination among federal, state, and tribal agencies, but also on whether the U.S. should develop a national water vision, policy, or plan.
AWRA and our sister national professional water resources associations have combined our efforts to facilitate a discussion that gets to the very core of future water resources management in the U.S. That is: should there be a national water resources vision and, if so, what should that vision be? Under the leadership of Jerry Sehlke, AWRA Past-President, a web site was established in collaboration with other professional water resources associations to solicit thoughts and have discussion on this important issue. The results of this discussion, whether a consensus is developed or if we just decide to “agree to disagree,” will be summarized, and made available for AWRA membership, partner associations, and public access. The results should prove to be very interesting!
Community, Conversation, Connections
A very special event being held this spring is the GIS Specialty Symposium in Orlando, Florida, March 29-31. This is the sixth in a series offered by AWRA recognizing advances in, and the importance of GIS as a fundamental tool for interdisciplinary analysis, planning, and management of water resource systems. The conference committee has put together a dynamite program with an outstanding slate of technical sessions. Later in the year the Summer Specialty Conference will bring together water resource professionals to address Tropical Hydrology and Sustainable Water Resources in a Changing Climate, August 30-September 1, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Information is available at http://awra.org. I look forward to seeing you at one or both of these Symposiums. a-michelsen@ag.tamu.edu
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