Running on Empty

Georgia is running out of water. So is southern California. Cities all across the bottom half of the U.S. are clamping down on sprinkling lawns and running fountains due to drought. More alarming, in the country's breadbasket, the Ogallala Aquifer, also known as the High Plains Aquifer and the world’s largest underground water source, is draining at an unsustainable rate. Experts estimate it will run dry sometime in the latter half of the century. You know supply shortages are nigh when brilliant investors like T. Boone Pickens, Jr., are plunging into water.

What's this mean? I don't need to remind anyone that our need for water is as critical as the need for air. Nothing is more foundational on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Yet how does that square with the fact that nothing is as frequently squandered or as poorly allocated as water? If we managed corporate resources like this we'd be watching one giant revolving door of bankruptcy.

Message to public officials: Keep track of this resource. Take inventory, track usage, estimate replenishment, publish figures. It's a lot easier than monitoring planetary warming (a related issue that also needs attention).

If we discover that we're mortgaging our grandchildren's future, communicate that. We also need to hear proactive solutions and how they will help. Whether it’s with employees or citizens, when leaders communicate truthfully and suggest solutions, everyone pulls together for the common cause. (Did you know, you could say, that it takes 5,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef?) The point is that today we need clear, strong leadership to solve water issues, to say nothing of other problems facing the world. It takes all of us, everyday leaders.