Operation Unite is about bringing people together to solve water problems. Chime in and contribute to uniting efforts to solve problems.
Myopic views yield an unconnected understanding of the whole problem. Water issues are multi-faceted and operate co-dependently with many other terrestrial, biologic and atmospheric conditions. Don’t oversimplify. Articulate a clear, concise goal. The best solutions are found by looking at the whole.
The combined water sources that we depend on in the western United States are a combination of annual precipitation and groundwater aquifer recharge and storage. Annual precipitation is highly variable on any given year. Groundwater aquifers are unfortunately filled with predominantly old water that doesn’t refill very quickly and water needs from our growing population are constant and ever increasing every day. At some point the ephemeral bubble of water supply will burst and our critical needs will be in jeopardy. Avoiding this outcome requires we generate an immediate and long-term shift in new water behaviors. Conserve, recycle and reuse! These are the three most important water strategies for the next 100 years.
California’s current multi-year drought has helped us recognize that we need more and better water information to manage the state’s water supply. Generating this information has a fundamental obstacle. Citizens and water stakeholders, in general, don’t trust one another. So, how do you build trust? Know Your Water® and each other! Find the will to build win-win water scenarios.
I am hands-on and solutions oriented. I also recognize where there is a will, there is a way. When I see and hear about the many water issues in our country, like the Central Valley farmers, the California Delta, the decline of water stored in Hoover Reservoir and the diminishing Ogallala Aquifer, I realize that the solution is up to us as water users. I also believe our society has what it takes to solve these issues. So, if you ask, “So what is different about me?,” I will say, “I have a dream that dreams come true and that people can actually work well together to solve shared problems.” We need to have healthy relationships with each other and move our feet. We need to see more success stories than tragedies and failures.
I have learned that I can lead this effort by example. I have incorporated and operated an environmental consulting firm as a registered hydrogeologist and geologist for twenty-nine years. Through the years I have recognized that implementation of thinking outside the box has been fruitful. The following are some examples of my endeavors:
Developed the Know Your Water® program
Developed the Neighborhood Water Alliance program
Developed the Operation Unite® Relationship Building program
Developed the Enhanced Pollution Awareness Survey
Received the 2015 American Institute of Professional Geologist Sectional Leadership Award for mentoring
Implemented an Aikido martial arts dojo and developed a personal development Aikido program
Served as founding board member of the Cooperative Solutions program
Received the National Groundwater Association Special Recognition Award in 2012, and
Produced the Senior Wisdom, Conversation, and Meet Your Mentor programs, and two-hundred fifty-one short segment radio shows on water’s many relationships in the world.
My relationship-building efforts have been in the western states, India and portions of the Eastern U.S. since 2006.
So, when you ask me, “Can you accomplish the Operation Unite® mission?” I will tell you with no hesitation that I am already on my way. There is a joy in bringing people together to solve water problems. This joy is contagious. So, let’s work together and solve issues that until now have been unsolvable.
July 11, 2016
The recent horrific shooting deaths of five Police officers in Dallas, Texas are a reminder that our communities are imperfect. Relationship is a condition that can be positive or negative. The response from citizens of all races and ethnic groups across the nation collectively demonstrate that we have the capacity to unite and find solutions.
These existing attributes in our population will also solve water shortage in California, find funding to rebuild dilapidated and aged infrastructure, build strategies that discover a sustainable nexus between energy and water and promote balance between healthy waterways and water resources and the needs of our population.
Operation Unite® sends its condolences to the families of Police officers shot and killed in Dallas, the Dallas Police Department and the citizens of Dallas, Texas. We are committed to bringing people together. Our capacity to achieve this through water issues will easily expand to solving many other fundamental social concerns. Let us continue to build relationship together and place our remedies into action. You can be sure nations will see the fruits of your accomplishments.
Stephen Baker, Founder of Operation Unite®
I’m hearing it right from the top; we need to develop new public private partnerships for funding and developing new management approaches to water. That means educating and activating the public into the solution. A participating public can turn a dragging weight of decent into wind filled sails that propel a water solution into operation. It sounds a lot like the mission of Operation Unite®. It’s time to launch this ship! Give us a call!
Today’s water management requires thinking outside the box. Fragmented viewpoints fall short of solutions that actually work in a world that competes for water. Try viewing complex social water demands holistically. You’re likely to solve many problems with one solution and that’s good for all of us.
Today’s water management requires thinking outside the box. Fragmented viewpoints fall short of solutions that actually work in a world that competes for water. Try viewing complex social water demands holistically. You’re likely to solve many problems with one solution and that’s good for all of us.
Fractured rock aquifers are the sole water supply for many groundwater users in the western states. Our 10-year study was a wake-up call to all fractured rock aquifer well owners. Know your water, adapt to your well's capacity, collaborate with your neighbors and be resourceful.
Call to find out more about managing fractured rock aquifers in rural residential and farming communities.
One thing is for sure, change in the conditions of our lives will always develop. Today’s climate is different than years past, our population is ever increasing and the needs of all life are more difficult to satisfy without intervention. It takes seeing outside the proverbial box and focusing on a new balance that provides people and the environment with the basic resources for supporting life. It takes a vision of what tomorrow’s water landscapes can be.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is an example where thinking outside the box can be applied. It’s not easy to combine a water conveyance system of a state water supply through the largest estuary on the west coast of North America. The Delta has changed dramatically since the gold miners first visited California. Today’s water foot print is colored by invasive species, an upside down hydrograph, disappearing habitats, accumulated pollutants from society’s life choices and diverted and reduced flows that amplify everything.
Maybe the Delta answer requires each of us to change a little. Take a fresh look at your water needs and commitment to communities living below you. It’s about creating new landscapes that support all life in a healthy way; a landscape in terms of value to one another, a commitment to watershed health and behaviors that get the job done.
I have a dream ….
That we understand and support sharing resources because we see our connection with each other.
That people receiving imported water choose to use that water with great care and efficiency.
That farming goes back to its traditional appeal and appreciation.
Ground truth the facts, balance solutions through a common goal, create bridges and share success with everyone.
Water has a big job to do in California. Its’ benefits are needed from the headwaters of California’s watersheds to the lowest regions of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, bays and the Salton Sea. Make no mistake; each segment of water’s travel sustains life in many forms and through many processes.
Enduring time periods of limited water availability and degraded water quality are overcome when our leaders work together and the public participates in the process. This year’s presidential election is an example of the importance in public participation. Build on your water knowledge, share opinion and information, be transparent and honest and make decisions that honor personal and community needs for people and our natural resources. Water underlies the abundant physical successes that Americans have built into their lives.
Whether you resonate with Hillary for America, Feeling the Bern or simply know that this is huuuuuge and want to Make America Great Again, pass the word and get out and vote on June 7, 2016.
Operation Unite® conducted a 10-year fractured rock aquifer study in Placer and Nevada counties of California. Several outreach programs were devised from the results of this study. Bottom line is, "Fractured rock aquifers are vulnerable in different ways and intensities. “
"Being safe with plenty of water means being involved.“
Call about our Community Sustainable Groundwater Management outreach.
When citizens and local agencies take the bull by the horns, the state doesn’t need to engage in mandatory requirements. Felicia Marcus, State Water Resources Control Board is messaging this very thing. Assume the best and prepare for the worst. Continuing water conservation practices is an action that builds strength and brings communities together through the resourcefulness created from these actions. Get the message out. We will always have water working together and working together means responding to the uncertain water conditions of the future now.
Groundwater management is important for everyone. Find out how much interest your groundwater users have in monitoring their water conditions and solving their groundwater problems. A high level of public engagement yields staying on target. Low public participation sets your groundwater management efforts up to become dysfunctional in design and implementation. Public buy-in is critically important.
Encourage an activate public. This creates opportunity when building a Groundwater Sustainability Agency and is especially good for the long run. And yes, you guessed it, the Operation Unite® Relationship Building program gets it done! Give us a call.
Everyone has been wondering. Will the State of California really take over groundwater management in regions that communities are inactive or ineffective? The State doesn’t want to see failures however actions will be taken.
Assistant Chief Council, Andrew Sawyer, of the State Water Resources Control Board announced at a recent American Groundwater Trust conference on California Groundwater Law that the state is prepared and staffed to manage non-compliant medium or high priority water basins. He also pointed out state implementation comes at a much greater cost than locally implemented programs.
The state will exercise the highest degree of care. This translates into a high cost. Come on. Let’s keep local control.
It really isn’t farfetched to think that drought can completely erase a water supply for large cities. A 50-wagon train is traveling 212 miles every week to deliver water to a population of a half a million people right now in Latur, India. They are out of water after four years of drought! When you know something like this can happen, it is best to correct your behavior before catastrophe develops. California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act offers an approach that balances water demand with surface and groundwater availability, every year. It's all about adjusting to the available water resource not the other way around.
Groundwater knows physical boundaries and hydrogeologic conditions. Other boundaries, like political districts and property boundaries are simply invisible to groundwater. So, how can we effectively manage a groundwater resource in the world we live?
Whenever we try to manage groundwater exclusively from our own corner of the world, we sidestep success in the aquifer by building unintended dysfunction in behavior between our neighbors and ourselves. Independent decision making alone builds a tragedy of the commons. Today’s challenge is to manage groundwater basins by working together. Operation Unite® brings people together to solve water problems. We can make your job easier. Let us help!
Presentations at the recent UC Davis Climate Change conference in California and Pat Mulroy’scomments at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento have a lot in common. “Not all groundwater basins are the same.” Look for opportunities and create partnerships. The opportunity that overdrafted groundwater basins provide is enormous. A good healthy mix of conjunctive use and a strong collaborative effort will yield health for the watershed and a practical solution to our overused aquifers.
Leadership and individual actions are paramount this year. California is in an exceptional drought that would take 200% to 270% of the average precipitation to catch up from the last three years of drought. Steve talks about some of the priorities that our state is focusing on and the value of resiliency. Everyone needs to do their part. Build resiliency to thrive. We can do this.
