Water and Community Livability

Dates: March 13-16, 2003, Yosemite National Park

A Call For a Set of Ahwahnee Principles

For Water Development in California

(A speech by Martha Davis)

Closing Points

For all the angst that water issues have generated in California, and I have a file cabinet filled with newspaper clippings, the truth is that we have been willing to spend more time and money on fighting over the minutia of water contracts than we have in getting on with the development of real water supplies within our communities. I would also argue that, given the importance of water supplies as a fundamental resource within our communities, we have been remarkably passive. The old way of thinking about water is that someone else would ultimately “take care of the problem” be it your local wholesaler, the state or even the federal government.

I submit that no one else will take care of developing the water supplies we need unless we do it ourselves. And no one will do it with the sensitivity to the needs of our local communities unless we do it ourselves.

The good news is that we have an array of choices (demonstrated through this conference). And we can develop approaches that will support the new urban design principles.

Martha Davis is the Executive Manager for Policy Development, Inland Empire Utilities Agency. This is the text of her closing speech to the Ahwahnee Conference on March 16, 2003.

Principles for Water | Yosemite Conference