Transcript

Jeff Fassett: The challenge will be continued growth

I think that the challenges will be continued growth. I think in the case of Wyoming, there's a lot of good basic tools in our laws to allow that to occur. But I think you are going to need more. As Dave said earlier, there is nothing like a good drought to advance the public knowledge and the solutions. In answer to your planning question, I was recalling that we did lots of wonderful planning at the State Engineer's Office, worked co-operatively with the staff of our local county who were suffering a declining groundwater table with a lot of rural development. But it wasn't until finally somebody said they just weren't going to issue anymore building permits did you finally have enough attention. Indeed, the state of Wyoming now has become much more aggressive in a very public-oriented water planning process and has brought in the local mayors and the county commissioners and the other purveyors, because the state can act no differently than our federal friends. It just can't come down from on high and expect it to work. I think you do have to develop new tools and new processes, but when you do I saw a lot of success. It may not be at the pace of change that some would like but I still think that change is there and I think that this drought for our state because of its severity, there are a lot of broader communities, a lot of broader interest groups that are asking the right questions now that they just don't think about when there is plenty to go around. And they will all go home and [water] does come out of the tap and the fish are happy and you just don't work on it and that's maybe one good benefit of having the kind of low snow-pack years that unfortunately we are suffering right now.

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