Water Leadership’s Failure of Nerve

When San Diego residents’ taps are dry, an extended drought will not be the
cause. Really??
“

“Brown Issues Sweeping Drought Proclamation”” this morning”’s San Diego UT
said in a headline above the fold. And what effect will this have on the
average San Diego water user? Very little. People will go on flushing their
toilets, washing their cars, watering the greenery that makes San Diego look
like an oasis in the desert. Sorry. It’s a “ho-hum” response. I seriously
doubt if anyone even turns to the back pages to finish reading the article,
assuming they are subscribers to the ever-fading circulation of the
newspapers in general. And the elephant in the room, to use a cliché, is there was no
mention in the UT article that puts agri-business on notice, except a small
bit about water rights. And good luck with that!

The most coverage seen on the news channels are sound bites sandwiched in
between the murders and “feel-good” stories.

It is really unfortunate, but a tragic fact that until the water is shut
off, very few will react. Agri-business will go on flooding the Central
Valley with water, the seven thousand farmlets in San Diego County will go
on sucking on the imported water, meanwhile complaining about how costly it
is. And we will hear from the San Diego County Water Authority how
homeowners must take fewer showers. Is there something wrong with this
picture?

Governor Brown, and all of those who are charged with providing a reliable
water supply for the State of California (not just Southern Cal anymore)
need to read a book. It’s titled “Failure of Nerve” by Edwin H. Friedman.

Quoting the book, “Viewing the Civil War through this principle of
leadership [how well their presence is able to preserve society’s
integrity], it is possible to see that the war was no more “caused” by the
issue of slavery than a divorce results from the perceived differences
between spouses. In either case, the “cause” had more to do with the ways in
which family emotional processes turned those differences into divisive
factors. From this perspective, the ““great American divorce”” was ultimately
the result of the failure of the five Presidents before Lincoln….to function
in a differentiated manner. The way in which these glad-handing, conflict
avoiding, compromising “commanders-in-chief avoided taking charge of our
growing internal crisis when they occupied the position “at the top” is
exactly the way I [Friedman] have seen today’s leaders function before their
organizations (or families) split.”

In like manner, when [I didn’t say “if”] San Diego residents’ taps are dry,
an extended drought will not be the cause. Water policy makers have had
decades to develop potable recycling. The technology is not new. The drought
could go on for many more years in this “dry century”. And if leaders past
and present would actually lead instead of ““glad-handing, conflict avoiding,
compromising…..“”, an extended drought may cause minor inconveniences, but
would not be fatal to the socio-economic well-being of California.

The clock is running. It may already be too late, but “better late than
never”. President Abraham Lincoln inherited the slavery issues. He had the
nerve to stand his ground, something five preceding presidents failed to do.
This nation will never be able to pay him tribute enough for resolving the
“great American divorce”. Where is our” “Lincoln”” who will take the bull by
the horns, or maybe it’’s who will make wastewater new water and thereby defy
an extended drought?

Milt Burgess