Perhaps fate is smiling on me...
President's Message | March 2021
As I embark on my year as your AWRA president, the first two issues of
Water Resources IMPACT address topics that are near
and dear to me. I am proud to introduce yet another
powerful issue of Water Resources IMPACT. Guest editor
Mike Antos notes, “Managing water separately from land
is one of the great missteps of the 20th century.” His
words echo my own personal experience as a state and
local planner. The growing momentum of the One Water
movement reflects a recognition that all of us need to
do better. As land and water professionals, we have
talked for decades about the dream of integrating land
and water management to create resilient communities
and natural systems, but we have seldom achieved full
implementation of this vision. This issue provides useful
examples of successes attained by members of our
wider land and water community who have wrestled with
the challenges of too little water, too much water, and
dirty water.
There is no denying that what happens on the land
has a direct relationship with the quality and quantity of
our water. “It’s only people who have separated them,”
notes Philip Stoker of the University of Arizona in one
of the feature articles in this issue. Our professional
organizations, regulatory frameworks, and institutional
departmental structures create single-purpose silos
that undermine our ability to manage land and water
holistically. An example of this frustration is the common
disconnect between local land use planning and water
utility planning. I have witnessed this disconnect, which is
vividly described in Heather Hansman’s article.
This issue of Water Resources IMPACT is a companion
to the 2021 Virtual Summer Conference: Connecting
Land & Water for Healthy Communities, convening
July 19–21, 2021. This conference represents a unique
collaboration between AWRA and the Babbitt Center
for Land and Water Policy. Registration is now open,
and I am confident that you can find something of value
for your professional practice in the objectives for this
conference. They include
- bringing diverse professions and professionals together in dialogue
- learning about land and water integration from
communities on the cutting edge
- strengthening connections between research and
practice in our community
- informing grounded, integrated land and water
policy
- catalyzing collaboration to achieve success
I am excited for all of you to read the articles in this
issue and to join us in July at the virtual Connecting
Land and Water for Healthy Communities summer
specialty conference. The breadth of creativity on
display in the stories and projects shared in this issue is
encouraging to me. Our membership is poised to achieve
remarkable progress for the communities we serve, and
the integration of our disparate management efforts
is within our grasp. Let us seize the day and recommit
to overcoming our perceived differences and working
together to manage land and water sustainably!
In closing, I’d like to report on other opportunities
available from ARWA. Registration is open for a number
of events, so don’t miss your chance to take advantage
of the exciting content available to you. If you are
an early-career professional or student, space is still
available for our three-part Virtual Young Professional
Workshop Series. These sessions will provide you with
information on negotiating your salary, mastering a
multistep interview, becoming an ally in the workplace,
building your brand, and much more. That’s not all—
registration is also open for the 2021 Virtual Joint AWRA
& National Capital Annual Water Symposium, entitled
“Human Dimension to Resilient and Sustainable Water
Management: Promoting Integrated Collaboration.”
This April 15–16 event will focus on the idea of circular
economies, managing for the unknown such as the
COVID-19 pandemic, social hydrology, environmental
justice, and innovations in water resource management.
Finally, with a renewed outlook for the future of
AWRA, we are issuing our official call for new board
members. Are you someone who strives to make a
difference in all that you do? Are you an early-career
professional with ideas on addressing the unique needs
of your peers? Are you a mid- or late-career professional
who feels a calling to give back to the profession? Are
you someone who supports AWRA's diversity, equity,
and inclusion policy yet feels underrepresented by the
current Board of Directors? If you are, then consider
this call to apply for AWRA board service. Please visit the
Board of Directors Nominations page to read the AWRA
Statement of Individual Board Member Responsibilities
and to submit your nomination by April 23, 2021.
We always appreciate hearing from you. Be safe and stay well.
Scott Kudlas is the 2021 president of AWRA.