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July 1, 2008
Get Involved with the Water Policy Study Committee
The Water Policy Study Committee is about to get going, and I wanted to give all of you interested folks a space to give us your feedback and participate in the project from the very beginning.
First, a few words on what the committee will be doing:
The premise of the committee is that Minnesota needs a more comprehensive approach to water policy. Often, we think of water management as government's responsibility, and the rest of us can feel disconnected from what is viewed as "water policy." This type of perspective can work on some issues (like reducing industrial pollution), but it's falling short in many ways (like controlling the pollution that runs off individual families' lawns).
We need to change the way we think about water management in order to handle the coming challenges in water policy. (Even in Minnesota, where we usually consider ourselves to be water-rich, water quality issues, projected population grown, and increasing demand are creating concerns for the future.) All water users -- including government, business, nonprofits, communities, and individuals -- need to be able to see their roles and their responsibilities within in.
The committee's primary task will be to draft principles that can guide collaborative water management in Minnesota, based on the appropriate roles of everyone involved.
Where you come in:
This work will be better if it's based on the participation of more than just the 30 people on the study committee, so we're going to be trying out a few different ways for other interested people to plug in, including:
- Starting the committee off with a series of public presentations. On July 15th, July 29th, and either August 11th or 14th (TBD), we'll be inviting in speakers from various state agencies and other organizations to help frame some of the major issues and the big questions in water policy in Minnesota. Click on the meeting dates to see more details, forward invitations along to friends or coworkers you think might be interested, and come yourself.
- Sending regular email updates with details about the committee's work. If you'd like to join this group, email Jim Horan at jhoran [at] citizensleague.org.
- Using this blog more often to give readers updates and ask for feedback on questions the committee is struggling with.
What ideas do you have on how to engage more people in this work? Any suggestions for using email, blogs, etc. based on things you've been involved with in the past? Let me know your comments.
Posted by Annie Levenson-Falk at July 1, 2008 2:56 PM