John W. Morris
We could surely do it, but there seems to be yet another period through which we must
work our way before we have exhausted the alternatives to development, and also
learned how to develop our resources in a manner which truly best serves the national
interest and future generations. That period, and the one we are entering as we start the
decade of the 1980s is a period of conservation.
This new emphasis on conservation may turn out to be one of the most significant
features of water resources management and development in the decade ahead. I
believe we are going to see the conservation ethic dominate public policy in the
eighties as strongly as the environmental ethic dominated the seventies.
At present I cannot tell you how long this will last. However, it will take some
time to develop fully and define clearly President Carter's national policy for
conservation and then to implement that policy within the Executive Branch.
What is conservation? This is the first question. We in the Corps of Engineers
have worked for two years to define conservation and with some success. It will take
at least that much longer to educate ourselves and the public even if we assume our
definition acceptable. To us, conservation is not merely using less. In the case of water,
it also means saving and conserving in an economical fashion. This view is not
unanimously accepted.
The conservation period will also involve new and modified activities including
a complete review of operating procedures, emergency planning for drought, reuse of
waste water, reevaluation of all consumptive uses of water, and others. Certainly, our
experiences with energy shortages should be ample cause to manage our water
efficiently.
Certainly, another water shortage is in the future. We should soon be able to
demonstrate that reductions of the total national need for water by conservation
measures, while quite valuable, will in themselves be insufficient to manage the
Nation's water resources properly and prepare judiciously for times of shortage. We,
as a Nation, will have to do more to assure a good supply of water to all our people.
We will have to store during time of plenty, and to transport large quantities of water
during times of shortage. But first we must demonstrate that the need surpasses the
fruits of merely using less. Then the conservation period will be on its way into our
history and in proper balance with the environmental objectives.
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