Forum: Public Input Key to Good Water Policy

A recent Tucson water forum may have raised more questions than it answered. Some of the questions raised were: Who is in the know about water issues? What do these experts know? What is the role of the public in addressing water issues? What does the public need to know?
Called “A Community Conversation About Water,” the event, to give it its due, was as much a colloquium and a dialogue as a conversation. In his introductory remarks, Peter Likins, chairman of the Tucson Regional Town Hall, emphasized the importance of the above questions when he stated, “If people do not understand the problems, the problems are not solved in a democracy.”
The first part of the program, titled “Lets get on the same page with some facts,” provided facts and information: the sources of Tucson’s water supplies were identified and water management and regulations were discussed. This provided the groundwork for the dialogue that followed. The first panel session was an opportunity for water professionals, those who, in one way or the other, are involved in the water affairs of the state, to discuss their areas of expertise and interests. These are the people in the water know telling what they know; they included agency heads, public officials at the local, county and state levels and utility personnel. Panels addressed various water issues. These sessions were an opportunity for audience members, many of whom were members of the public, to offer comments and ask questions. Perhaps the drift of the day’s sessions could be best summarized by a comment made by a participant toward the end of the event. He described his response to the day’s sessions by stating, “I expected a unified, slick, packaged position;” in other words, an official statement reflecting the views of the state’s water experts. Instead, he found “criss-crossing” among the experts, various opinions and even disagreements. He found this encouraging, that an open-ended process was underway seeking solutions to water problems. Sharon Megdal, director the Water Resources Resource Center, stated in conclusion, “Today was meant to be a beginning. It was not necessarily meant to be a day of answers.” It may seem ironic that by showing that solutions to water problems are often elusive the day’s dialogue helped ensure a better informed water conversation in the future. The Water Resources Research Center cosponsored the event; See Sharon Megdal’s column on page 11 for her impressions of the community water conversation.

Layperson’s Guide to Arizona Water Now Available

As part of its commitment to serve the water education needs of Arizona citizens, the Water Resources Research Center teamed up with the Water Education Foundation to produce the Layperson’s Guide to Arizona Water. The publication meets a longstanding need: it offers in a single, reader-friendly source information Arizona citizens need to be well informed about state water issues. Few would doubt the need for a layperson’s guide or primer describing the ins and outs of Arizona water. Arizona is a rapidly growing state attracting people from many different areas who need to be educated about water in a desert and semi-arid environments. The guide is aimed at a wide audience, from water professionals needing a quick reference, to policy makers wanting a reliable summary of the facts, to the water-interested citizen. The guide is available as a free public service at the WRRC web site: http://ag.arizona.edu/AZWATER/ or a hard copy can be purchased from the Water Education Foundation, 717 K St., Suite 317, Sacramento, CA 95814; phone: 916-444-6240; web site: www.watereducation.org ($10 per copy; $7 for ten or more copies.)

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