Managing our limited water resources by shifting paradigms
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Humans need freshwater. So do plants and animals, particularly those that comprise the aquatic ecosystems in our streams and estuaries.
The goal in managing water resources is to provide a safe, reliable and affordable supply of water to meet human and environmental needs. However, the inherent limitation on the amount of water available at any particular time and place creates a tremendous challenge in achieving this goal - often leading to competition and conflict over available water supplies.
The phrase, "whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting," a quote usually attributed to Mark Twain, aptly describes the current state of our water resource management efforts. The truth may be that, while whiskey has probably started more fights than water, whiskey tends to fuel barroom brawls and riots, water tends to ignite feuds, civil wars and international conflicts.
Disputes over water are usually rooted in individual perspectives - our value systems - regarding the role water plays in our lives, the relative value it has in various uses, who "owns" it, and the way it should be allocated among competing uses. In many cases, fear is the underlying emotion shaping these personal value systems - fear based on past experiences with water shortages.
Many people in Texas still recall the hardships experienced during the "Great Drought" of the 1950s. In the introduction to "The Time It Never Rained," a novel (1984) about the experiences of a ranching family in West Texas during that drought, author Elmer Kelton keenly observed that in Texas:
Each new generation tends to forget - until it confronts the sobering reality - that dryness has always been the normal condition in the western half of the state. Wet years have been the exceptions.
The fear that drought invokes burns deep into the psyche of Texans, especially those in South Texas. Such fear is a reason many tend to view water management as a "zero sum game" that inevitably winds up with winners and losers.
Our water management experiences are fraught with examples of how competition for, and conflict over, limited water resources have played out at local, regional, state, national and international levels - all leading to sub-optimal outcomes in economic, environmental and social terms.
Given the failures of this old approach to water management, perhaps, as many within the water management community believe, it is time to implement a new water management paradigm, one designed to create "win-win" situations. It is time to rephrase the old "Twain" adage, so that it might now read: "Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for sharing."
The idea of sharing water may, at first, seem naïve in the context of the current political and economic situation, wherein it is all about looking out for "No. 1" - where it is "our water," and if we let go of any of it, we forfeit the opportunities it represents. However, the concept of "water sharing" does not mean that those who now have access to water supplies would simply yield a portion of that water, without fair compensation, to those who need it (including environmental needs).
Rather, it means that state and federal policy should incorporate a more cooperative and integrated approach to water management - what the American Water Works Association terms "Total Water Management," defined as the following:
". the exercise of stewardship of water resources for the greatest good of society and the environment. A basic principle of Total Water Management is that the supply is renewable, but limited, and should be managed on a sustainable basis. Taking into consideration local and regional variations, Total Water Management:
Encourages planning and management on a natural water systems basis through a dynamic process that adapts to changing conditions;
Balances competing uses of water through efficient allocation that addresses social values, cost effectiveness, and environmental benefits and costs;
Requires the participation of all units of government and stakeholders in decision-making through a process of coordination and conflict resolution;
Promotes water conservation, reuse, source protection, and supply development to enhance water quality and quantity; and
Fosters public health, safety, and community good will.
Shifting water management paradigms will not be easy (although it is underway, incrementally, in some areas - i.e., the Texas Senate Bill 1 Regional Water Planning Program).
Given the current water conditions in much of Texas, this change cannot come too soon.
James Dodson is a Victoria-based consultant who has been working on water supply and environmental flow issues in South Texas since 1990. He also teaches graduate level courses on water resource management as an adjunct professor at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. The recently published book, "Groundwater Management: Regional and Country Perspectives" (The Icfai University Press, Hyderabad, India, 2008) includes a paper Mr. Dodson presented at the "Aquifers of the Gulf Coast of Texas" conference, sponsored by the Texas Water Development Board in 2006.
