The Way to Develop A State Water Plan: Oklahoma Does It Right

I've seen the way a state water plan should be developed, and it's in Oklahoma. As their license plate once said, 'Oklahoma is OK."

I'm in Norman, OK, where I  keynoted the Oklahoma Water Town Hall last night. The Town Hall is being run by the Oklahoma Academy, a nonpartisan organization that is acting as an honest broker in this phase of the planning process. The Town Hall will provide recommendations to the state to consider in its plan, which will then go to the public and then the legislature.

Here is a copy of my Power Point:

Download OK_Town_Hall_Campana_23_May_2010

It's a remarkable process, especially when you consider that almost 90 meetings around the state preceded the Town Hall.

I want to give a shout-out to Will Focht (Director), Mike Langston (Assistant Director) and Jeri Fleming (Communications Manager) of the Oklahoma Water Resources Research Institute (OWRRI) at Oklahoma State University, who did the heavy lifiing with all those meetings. And the same to Julie Knutson, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Academy for her organization of the Town Hall.

The Oklahoma Water Resources Board deserves a great deal of credit for providing much of the funding, but then stepping back to let others do the 'listening' to Oklahoma's citizens. The OWRB knew that it would be a far better approach to employ honest brokers without the OWRB's baggage. 

Had a great, but all too brief, visit. Wonderful hospitality and WaterWonks everywhere!

The planning process? Take a look for yourself.

“A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow." -- Unknown

Comments

[PAUL F MILLER]

Water Planning:Views from the Land of Enchantment and the Beaver State Oklahoma Water Town Hall 23 May 2010 Michael E. Campana ... BRAVO ... I thoroughly enjoyed your power point that I viewed online and only wish I had, had the opportunity to heard and see it personally ...

You know many of your words were truly music to my ears and lifted my spirit to see others champion that "we" the people need to have voice and standing in all these discussions about water to enable us to honestly attain public "buy-in" which is critical and essential to formulating any viable long term water solution

THANK YOU ....