Preston Bryant is a Republican who has represented Lynchburg and part of Amherst County in the Virginia House of Delgates since 1996.

Pindar declared its high value right off the bat in his Olympian Odes. “Water is best,” he said in the premier ode’s first line.

And it really is best, almost necessarily so. It’s the sustainer of all life. Water we must have, one and all.

Thus, when a life-sustaining force begins to run low, we ought to be more than a little worried. Trouble is, we don’t seem to be.

Much of Virginia is experiencing its third year in a row of severe drought conditions. In Central, Southside, and parts of Western Virginia, we’re 10-12 inches below normal rainfall for this year alone. That’s alarming. Thinking cumulatively, it’s dramatically more alarming. Or at least it should be.

But Virginians, sadly, have shown little evidence of taking seriously the drought and the dangers it presents. (Except for our farmers; they’re all too aware of what’s at stake.) Gov. Mark Warner encouraged citizens quite some time ago to adopt voluntary water restrictions so that mandatory ones might be avoided. Alas, his kinder, gentler approach yielded not the results state hydrologists needed to see.

So about a week ago, Warner outlawed ex cathedra those things one would think most folks would’ve forfeited on their own: watering lawns, washing cars, filling pools.

And what happened when creatures of luxury could no longer do the luxurious? They wailed. The governor’s office was flooded with calls, letters, faxes and emails.

Granted, some water-dependent businesses had legitimate concerns, many of which sprang from the governor’s somewhat vague decree outlining the rules of the game. Some businesses that rely on water were favored with exemptions from restrictions while others were told to take it on the chin. Golf courses and commercial car washes got a pass, but lawn services and pool contractors did not.

The public’s general gnashing of teeth, however, is but a sampling of what’s to come when we begin to look seriously at managing our water resources across the state. And that’s something we must do.

For Virginia has no statewide water policy. That’s right, though we are the stewards of some of America’s most historic water resources – the James River, remember, helped give birth to a new nation – we have no comprehensive plan to use them wisely.

Fortunately, Del. Steve Landes, an Augusta County Republican, saw the irony, not to mention the tragedy, of this. He has pushed the General Assembly into a two-year study of the state’s water laws.

Landes wants to do two things. First, he wants to determine the adequacy of the state water laws and policies currently on the books. That’s an understandable first step. But it’s his second aim that’ll draw the lightening: he wants to establish who will take the lead in both water supply planning and allocation. That’s right, allocation.

This is where it’ll get interesting – because this is where control will come into play. More to the point, it’s where power – the ability to make decisions over what’s precious to the majority – will be at stake.

Can you imagine being given the power to decide who gets how much of something we all need? Being given the authority to measure out in doses that which sustains all life?

While it’s the state’s responsibility to protect and manage the ebb and flow of our water resources, both above ground and below, historically that responsibility has been delegated to local governments. And their water management decisions generally revolve much more around water’s role in economic development than its value as a resource that’s increasingly vulnerable to forces beyond our control.

Our system, such that it is, just doesn’t work terribly well. Some jurisdictions are flush with water while others are simply too much at the mercy of the rain gods. There’s also the whole issue of inter-basin transfers of water – remember Virginia Beach’s 150-mile grab for water from Lake Gaston?

And recall what happened just last week when the governor empowered counties, towns and cities to enforce the water restrictions he constitutionally imposed? Many local governments fell all over themselves, not knowing what to do or how to do it since they had no local conservation ordinances in place. Some still today are thumbing their noses at it all, feeling no certain pressure to do their part in the conservation effort.

Virginia’s streams and lakes and rivers are vital to the well being of us all. Health. Safety. Economy. Recreation. General quality of life.

It may turn out that the Landes study is one of the more important initiatives emanating this year from the legislature. Its findings and recommendations are due to the governor and the General Assembly for consideration by 2004.

In the meantime, we must pray for the fullness of clouds, and we must pray that they’re blown our way. So much depends on those prayers.

Your thoughts?

The Bryant Archive

On Labor Day, coal miners and being a Republican

Shadow responsibilities

A time for all Virginians to pull together

The people versus the powerful in Northern Virginia

A media double standard?

Warner's California Ways

Bill Howell: the Un-Wesson

He favored – that is, exempted – some business while inadvertently socking it to others. Golf courses and commercial car washes were basically excused from the restrictions, but lawn services and irrigation contractors were not.