The Privilege
of Service
A Letter from Commissioner Johnson
In January, I will conclude my 33-year career with the Bureau of Reclamation. During my career, water management has changed considerably, from constructing dams and water delivery facilities to a complex balancing of often-competing demands for water.
Because water is vital, eliminating problems is impossible; our success is reflected in how well we deal with the problems. Working in water resources management has taught us some important things. One is that developing solutions requires hard work and a lot of time. Another is that there is no universal solution for water problems—one size does not fit all. The most effective solutions usually employ a combination of tools. With ingenuity, we can sometimes satisfy a greater number of interests by creating a bigger pie.
Reclamation is one of the few government entities that works directly with customers, and strong relationships with customers and partners is vital to our success. As I look back at the formidable challenges we have met, I feel great pride in those who have worked at and those who have worked with Reclamation. We have accomplished a great deal together to stretch supplies and get water where we need it despite staggering population growth and record drought.
In order to continue our success, we are looking broadly at future water management challenges. A key part of this approach is the Department’s Water for America initiative. Through a number of approaches, Water for America promotes conservation, technological advances, and environmental enhancements through Challenge Grant programs. The initiative also includes a significant new effort focusing on water planning. Using a basin-wide approach, the planning program will focus on climate change and ways of meeting future water supply and demand imbalances.
Reclamation’s river restoration activities are addressing the challenge of satisfying environmental requirements while providing certainty to water users well into the future. The Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program looks ahead 50 years to protect endangered and threatened species and to keep other species from being listed. More than 50 parties signed the agreement. The Platte River Recovery Implementation Program Agreement was signed by the Governors of Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming and the Secretary of the Interior, ending 12 years of negotiations. In two other river basins facing extremely complex issues, we are helping to balance water user and environmental needs through the Klamath Conservation Implementation Program and the Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Act Collaborative Program.
Questions about dam operations and effects on downstream resources require long-term investment in scientific study. A recent example of this type of work was the high-flow experiment at Glen Canyon Dam, which will increase our understanding of whether higher flows can rebuild eroded beaches. Other research is fostering innovative solutions to water supply challenges, such as desalination and the control of invasive species.
We have made tremendous progress in the management of resources in a number of river basins. In the Colorado River basin, we have reached agreements on surplus, the quantification of water entitlements in California – the QSA. Most recently, we have reached a historic milestone in the management of the Colorado River system with the new guidelines to address potential shortages in the Lower Colorado River Basin and operation of Lakes Powell and Mead under a wide range of hydrologic conditions. The signing of the Truckee River Operating Agreement on management of water in the Truckee River basin by Secretary Kempthorne and 16 other parties ended 18 years of negotiations among numerous Federal and non-Federal entities.
We have made progress on satisfying Tribal water rights claims, including the Arizona Water Settlements Act, which resulted in the largest Native American 8water rights settlement in U.S. history. The Act also provides funding and water to address other Tribal claims in Arizona.
We continue to work with partners on significant construction projects such as the Animas-La Plata Project, the Drop 2 Reservoir Storage project, and the Joint Federal Project at Folsom Dam, a collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of California that improves flood control for Sacramento and addresses dam safety at a significant cost savings. The Rural Water program that we are implementing addresses supplying high quality water reliably to people in remote rural areas and the aging of infrastructure. In August, we celebrated the first delivery of water from the Mni Wiconi rural water project to the Oglala Sioux Indian Reservation.
We undertook the self-study that led to the Managing for Excellence action plan. When I came in as Commissioner, I made the implementation of Managing for Excellence a top priority. We have issued the concluding report and continue to implement the recommendations, which we developed with significant stakeholder input and which will better position us to meet the challenges of 21st century water resources management.
Most of the great successes we have produced took significant amounts of time. The Colorado River shortage criteria took 10 years. The QSA took at least 10 years. The MSCP took 10 years. The Arizona Settlements Act negotiations have been proceeding more than 25 years. The Platte River agreement took 7 years. Strong leadership, strong relationships, and perseverance are at the foundation of our success.
We should feel great pride in looking back at these accomplishments and great energy looking ahead. We have surmounted many, many obstacles by working together, and I am confident that this success will continue well into the future.
I am proud to have served in an agency performing such vital services to the people of the United States and grateful for the opportunity to have worked with this group of dedicated public servants. The spirit and can-do attitude of the people in Reclamation is second to none. I am also grateful for the opportunity to have worked with Reclamation’s partners and stakeholders. As you continue to work together in this spirit of service to the people of this nation our future will surely be as bright as our past.
Bob Johnson served as Lower Colorado Regional Director from 1995 until his appointment as Commissioner in 2006.
Last updated: Fall/Winter 2008