This issues's lead story relates how Interior Secretary Hodel's promise ten years ago that the federal government is "fully committed to celebrating the completion of the CAP into Tucson by 1991" drew at least two minutes of applause. His promise was fulfilled, but through a series of misadventures, many Tucsonans remain wary and the delivery of CAP water has been postponed. Tucsonans are not welcoming CAP water with open arms, or rather, open spigots.

CAP Revises Folk Wisdom

In fact, in their resistance to drinking CAP water, certain Tucsonans are proving that some old gems of folk wisdom ain't necessarily so. Remember the old saying, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink"? Some Tucson folks are attempting to demonstrate that even if you take the water to the horse, and not just lead the horse to the water, you still can't make it drink, not if it is CAP water. Also, fretting about the salinity, hardness and dissolved organic material of CAP water, some of these same Tucsonans are casting doubt about whether blood always is thicker than water, at least CAP water.

Hoover Dam as Public Art

Not all water projects go unappreciated however. Columnist George F. Will is worked up about the power of such projects to inspire and lift the human spirit. In his syndicated column Will waxed lyrical about Hoover Dam, built at a time "when America had an appetite for big conquering projects." Hoover Dam exists as a mighty monument to the "peacetime mobilization of people for projects explicitly designed to elicit nobility through collective action" and is a "soaring affirmation of glistening white concrete, shimmering in the desert sun between the black canyon walls." Will says America should begin other such projects to uplift its faltering spirit.

As Will's column was appearing nationally, the "Atlantic Monthly" was carrying an article by Robert S. Devine titled, "The Trouble With Dams." The lead-in to the article stated, "Some 100,000 dams regulate America's rivers and creeks, often at the expense of ecosystems — and of taxpayers, who are subsidizing handouts to a large number of farmers, floodplain occupants, hydro-electricity users, and river-transportation interests." Will might well lament that the times ain't what they use to be. To his clarion call to think big again and build, Devine responds, "We have been there before, and it didn't work." Meanwhile the University of Arizona's Office of Cultural Affairs is promoting another type of water vision. OCA scheduled, Mira, Cycle III, a dance performance in Tucson, on April 27. According to the program, the performance "focuses on water as a universal metaphor, representing something that is, at the same time, completely ordinary and completely sublime." Perhaps this artistic and aesthetic vision of water will prove as inspirational as Hoover Dam — and at much less cost.

Fall of the British Empire

Water conservation usually is viewed as a local affair, occurring close to home where citizens practice it. As a result, when featured in international news, water conservation practices can seem part of the folklore of a particular country, an expression of personal and cultural values. Recent water conservation news from Great Britain confirms this impression. To conserve water the British National Rivers Authority recommended that water companies give people grants to buy water efficient washing machines, dishwashers, and toilets. Further recommendations included that the government set a maximum standard for new washing machines of 80 liters per wash; require pre-1981 toilets be replaced with lower-flush versions; and force water companies to reduce leakage rates to six liters per household per hour. So far so good.

Trevor Newton, a chief executive of a Yorkshire water company, however, is setting a personal example to encourage his 384,000 customers to conserve water.

"I personally haven't had a bath or shower for three months," the executive disclosed. Shunning brimming baths and splashing showers, Newton says he uses a washcloth and half a bowl of hot water every day to keep his personal hygiene tiptop.

"He's trying to lead the way and say, 'You can save water. It can be done,'" spokesman John Howe said. Some Britains were decidedly unimpressed with Newton's personal hygiene regime. "I remember being at school with a boy like Mr. Newton, but eventually we told him," Chris Boylan wrote in a letter to The Times.