A Year Well Remembered

Water challenges mount as changes in weather visit more extreme conditions, more frequently. We see this and recognize the importance in working with the public’s response to our resource issues and intermittent severe weather patterns. Operation Unite® has built technical and social tools that support bringing people together to solve our water problems. Here are some Operation Unite® activities that were achieved this year (2017).

• The Operation Unite® Know Your Water® program now provides more interpretive analyses for domestic well owners to understand and adapt their water use habits.
• Operation Unite® Founder Stephen Baker received the News Department Award at KVMR 89.5 FM for his weekly water commentaries.
• “Water is a Many Splendor-ed Thing” is now up to 254 individual radio shows.
• Operation Unite® is moving into supporting responsible groundwater management in the cannabis industry.
• Operation Unite’s “Meet Your Mentor” internet radio program series is now available on the internet (www.operationunite.co/blogs).
• Operation Unite® continues to increase its media contacts.
• Operation Unite® mentoring activities contributed the successful establishment of the first international American Institute of Professional Geologist student section chapter at Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University in Nanded, India.

Operation Unite® is poised and ready to build your water project successes through our customized public and stakeholder relationship building programs. Some call it “Soft Power”. We call it success with all the trimmings; bargaining in good faith, earned trust and responsible actions.

Operation Unite® wishes each of you and your organizations the greatest successes for 2018. Happy New Year! We will be visiting you next year with our new weekly emails.

Meet Your Mentor Visits AIPG and NGWA

Preparing new professionals to solve our planet's future water issues requires the passing of the proverbial baton. Experiences of retiring senior water professionals are fundamental to building professional responsibility and public service. Competence through education and experiences, consistent demonstration of our historic integrity and a philosophy of ethics, of our collective professional communities,  fuels our future. The Operation Unite Meet Your Mentor internet radio program series supports all these virtues. Water is fundamental to our lives and environment. Join our effort to give future water professionals the benefits and support of experience and knowledge. The Meet Your Mentor internet radio show series is heard by K-12 students and their parents, college students, young professionals and professionals cross-pollinating from other industries. Tune in and listen by Clicking Here: Meet Your Mentor.

From "Tragedy of the Commons" to "In Support of the Commons"

Groundwater management in the western U.S. has always presented difficulty in states that have developed a “tragedy of the commons” circumstance. Correcting these developing situations continues to bump up against the definition of reasonableness, beneficial uses, equity and economic value of use. We have always addressed change in groundwater management through the lens of appropriate compensation and this has, more often than not, kicked the can down the road. Nobody wants to lose their historic right to water regardless of the damage done to an aquifer. Unfortunately, the outcome of this type of focus and response has created emptying aquifers, water quality problems, subsidence, loss of aquifer storage and the depletion of surface flows.

Farmers, some cities and many domestic well users have now experienced not having water and this has altered the motivation of a very small group of people. It is a situation that Benjamin Franklin summarized well, “When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.”

We have always addressed change in groundwater management through the lens of appropriate compensation. Nobody wants to lose their historic right to water. So, how can a positive change be developed?

Maybe appropriate compensation should consider the balance of the specific water benefit with the shortfalls created by its' use. By doing this, appropriate compensation can be translated to the water value of the water use to society. The cumulative effect of this approach will be resource security, optimum quality improvements, longevity for our future generations and positive economic decisions that build our communities.

We are at a point today where a “zero sum gain” or the “status quo” will perpetuate the eventual loss of a critical resource. Call Operation Unite® and discuss this further. Operation Unite® builds public responsibility. Let’s get it done.

Misconceptions and Lack of Trust are Main Causes of Water Projects

Word Counts are a great way to reveal the focus of projects, priorities and fundamental concepts. Examine the Operation Unite® Word Count in this week’s email and know that you are beginning to understand that Operation Unite® focuses on Stakeholder goals and the Public’s water project interests. If your water projects encounter any of these situations, then you want to connect with Operation Unite®:

• A public that hasn’t yet recognized that it is vulnerable to losing a water resource without an effective community response (water project);
• Misconceptions occurring in your project area that send your community of Stakeholders and Public in another direction;
• Clashing with values, principles and behaviors that push against the success of your project;
• Difficulty bringing populations in the “White Areas” of a Groundwater Sustainability Agency together in support of GSA development and your groundwater sustainability plan; or
• Resistance because a Stakeholder or the Public see no value in the water project due to misunderstandings and lack of trust.

Operation Unite® is a hands – on, results - oriented, capacity building initiative that engages Stakeholders and the impacted Public in solving water problems thereby building Public responsibility for generated projects.
 
Our goal is to bring specific communities and the relevant agencies into alignment through the development of common values, collaborative relationships and a shared community plan to achieve articulated goals designed to address the challenges and problems they face. Call us: 530-478-1260.

All Men Are Created Equal

On this most important American holiday we recognize that our past decisions that moved us to become a united nation were the recognition that all men are created equal and this nation and its people are endowed by its Creator to pursue Life, Liberty and Happiness.

Many have fallen to protect our nation’s commitment to unite as a people. This history makes our commitment even stronger to stand strong on the virtues that we believe.  The abuses and dysfunctions felt by our thirteen states during British control describe a benchmark for what not to do in today’s world, inside our United States of America as well as our actions internationally. We are a proud nation with a will to practice virtues that unite people.  It started with the thirteen United States of America prior to 1776 and has developed into the 50 states of America in 2017.

Operation Unite® thanks all our veterans, living and dead, our civic leaders, present and past and citizens in this United States of America for their commitment to these ideals. America is built on solid ground with a vision that all people are created equal and will always be given opportunity to pursue Life, Liberty and Happiness. Have a wonderful July 4th!