[Vision2020] Moving forward on Water

[Phil Nisbet]

Mark had said that insults tend to reign in the arena of discourse, but I am 
finding that once the furor dies down, there are solid points and civil 
discussions that can and do occur.

Dianne French's posting on the GWZP is a great example of the positive kinds 
of discussions we can and should be having.

But at this point, only one small group is going to be bearing the burden.  
Everybody needs to be more involved.

The Water Summit on October 6th and 7th is an opportunity for all of us as a 
wider community to become more knowledgable.  The Commisioners and hard 
working City council people like Jon Kimberling, PWCN, POW and PCEI, city 
staffs from Pullman and Moscow and a raft of others are all working hard to 
build a consensus on not just a small portion of the problem, but a wider 
ranging solution.  That meeting in October will be important to everybody as 
a starting point for planning on what to do over the next many years.

And that includes not just the people in Moscow and Pullman.  This is a 
regional issue.  The smaller communites in Whitman and Latah Counties need 
to be involved.  The larger urban areas are highly water consumptive and if 
they do run out of water, where do you think they will look next to find it? 
  Los Angeles moves water hundreds of miles to feed its urban needs, so 
solving problems here in Moscow is important for Bovill and Troy and Deary 
and Potlatch, because the water they may wish to use, may just be yours.

And actions on the Whitman County side of the border need to be taken.  If 
all the action is only on a limited area on the Latah side of the line, what 
has really been gained.

Democracy is not a spectator's sport.  So with all the people involved who 
can attend, we may be able to start charting a sustainable water future on 
October 6th and 7th.  Dianne and Mark and so many others can not be the only 
people carrying the load, it takes everybody to do that.

And any businesses that wish to help sponser the Water Summit can.  Economic 
development here is not going to happen if we have no water resources.  
Local business needs to be part of the solution, both by attending the Water 
Summit and also by helping to pay for getting the wide variaty of speakers 
they have coming in to give us the benfit of their knowledge.

Phil Nisbet

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