From the Editor's Desk: Planning for a rainy day
By Pat Caldwell
Argus Observer
Saturday, October 4, 2008 11:21 PM PDT
It may just be one of the most important meetings you never heard of and probably won’t attend.
Tuesday at the Ontario Holiday Inn, a water roundtable will kick off, designed to help the state frame a wide-sweeping plan for the management of the state’s water resources.
A number of local people with strong ties to water will be on hand for the session, which lasts from noon until about 5 p.m.
While it may seem to be just another run-of-the-mill session involving some key people in an obscure industry, in reality the Tuesday meeting is important.
Anything that focuses on the future of water in the West, and especially in the high desert plains of southeastern Oregon should be an attention-grabber.
Water in the West is well on its way to becoming one of the most critical issues of the future.
Most of us, I’m sure, take the wet stuff pretty much for granted. You turn on the tap, wet liquid comes out and we are all good to go.
Except the future of water, how to use it and when and by whom, is escalating into a flash-point issue in other states, and soon Idaho and Oregon may be right up front on this controversy.
What’s the big deal?
Well, there is simply not an infinite supply of the wet stuff.
Despite dams and, for the most part, historically forward-thinking steps to manage water throughout the region, we may one day face a real shortage.
The West is growing. Even with the soured economy, places like Las Vegas and Boise are expanding at a high rate of speed. That growth, in turn, is putting more pressure on old, tried-and-true uses of water.
The meeting Tuesday does not appear to be about the big picture, long-term issues of water access, but instead is focused on the state and local picture.
Those larger issues, though, play a role in any kind of session that claims to address water in the West.
The demands upon individual states across the West for water will continue to grow. That could translate into a lot of different things for farmers and ranchers across the wide-open steppes of Eastern Oregon.
Most of us may just dismiss the issue as one of insignificance. After all, there will always be water, right?
Well, maybe. But we may not be able to access it in the same way and in the same quantity that has been done in the past.
That’s why meetings such as the one Tuesday are so critical and deserve more than a passing glance by voters.
Pat Caldwell is the editor of the Argus Observer. He can be contacted at PatC@argusobserver.com
