Making the Best of a Bad Situation

Achieving success at making the best of a bad situation is deserving of special note since such an achievement usually involves beating the odds.

For example: an abandoned open pit mine with 36 billion gallons of water laden with arsenic, copper, cadmium, cobalt, iron and zinc and covering 500 acres, as deep as 900 feet, and blamed for the deaths of 342 migratory snow geese that made the mistake of landing on its toxic waters would by most accounts be considered a very bad situation.

Yet the Berkeley Pit in Butte Montana, once a copper mine, now on the federal Superfund list and considered one of America's largest bodies of toxic water, has become a major tourist attraction drawing visitors willing to pay to gaze at its tainted waters and take pictures. The attraction has proven sufficiently successful that the admission price of $1 charged in 2005, its initial year of operation, was doubled to $2 last year. Between June 15 and Sept. 30, 2005, the site netted about $18,600.

Present tourist amenities include an observation deck and a souvenir shop. On the drawing boards are a pavilion, playground, food service and flush toilets.

Farmers of small California farms are coping with a bad situation by trying to stay afloat in the face of increased regulations and foreign competition. To survive, some farms are catering to urbanites' longings for a farm experience, combining it with their cravings to be entertained.

Called agritourism or agritainment, this convergence between agriculture and entertainment is ensuring the survival of some farms, generating about $75 million annually throughout California - without increasing water use.

Showtime down on the farm includes wagon rides, stacked hay bales to climb, pony rides, and petting zoos. Some farmers are opening dude ranches or carving mazes in their cornfields. One farmer charges $7 per adult, $5 for children to wander the maze he cut into his cornfield. Dwarfed by towering corn stalks, they roam the narrow paths through green filtered light.

Also noteworthy in this context are the sentiments expressed in a U.S. National Park Service press release encouraging tourists to visit Lake Powell despite its low water level due to drought: "Current water levels allow one to rediscover the beauty of Lake Powell and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area from a different perspective."

The 20th Anniversary of the Environmental Quality Act WRRC's Annual Conference, June 5

Only weeks away, the WRRC conference has attracted a wide range interest. With final details being settled and necessary arrangements seen to, now is the time to register to ensure your attendance at the Arizona water community's premier event of the spring season. Titled "The 20th anniversary of the Environmental Quality Act and ADEQ: Assessing and Protecting the State's Water Quality," the June 5 event is cosponsored by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the Arizona Water Institute. It will be conducted at the Hyatt Regency, Phoenix at Civic Plaza. The one-day conference will feature panels on the genesis and history of the Environmental Quality Act and ADEQ, the water quality assurance revolving fund (WQARF), emerged and emerging contaminants, emerging policy challenges, and the future of ADEQ. Also included will be a luncheon presentation on the state of ADEQ by Director Steve Owens and insights from former directors. Governor Napolitano has been invited to kick-off the day. Please check the WRRC web site at (http://ag.arizona.edu/AZWATER/) for additional information about the conference and to register on-line.

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