Secretary of the Interior Rogers C.B. Morton announced that Dr. William S. Butcher of Austin, Texas, has been named Director of the Office of Water Research and Technology (OWRT). Dr. Butcher comes to the post from The University o Texas at Austin, where he was Professor of Civil Engineering. From January 1971 to January 1973 he served as Assistant to the President's Science Advisor in the Office of Science and Technology, Executive Office of the President. He was Associate Director of the Water Resources Research Center of the Desert Research Institute, University of Nevada, Reno, from 1967 to 1969.

The 19th Annual Arizona Watershed Symposium will be held September 24, 1975, at the Desert Hills Motel in Phoenix. The Symposium, co-hosted by the Arizona Water Resources Committee and the Arizona Water Commission, is open to the public. This year's program promises to be interesting, although it will be hard to match last year's landmark event.

When the state’s urban dwellers think of rural water resources – if they think of them at all – they most likely think of recreational opportunities, like fishing, boating and camping. Residents of rural areas of the state, however, are confronting a wide range of water issues, with ensuring sufficient supplies being the most critical issue. The rural water management strategy that is adopted must reflect the physical, social and cultural characteristics unique to the non-urban regions of Arizona.

In our democratic form of government, the people or, rather, we, the people, are said to be in charge, the ultimate source of political power. To believe that the people are in control is reassuring, to the extent that we are capable of knowing our best interests. And who among us claims not to know what is best for him or for her?

Approval has been received on the Plan of Study developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Phoenix Urban Study office. The program plan identifies the scope and objective of the water resources study, and also serves as an inter-agency agreement between the participants in the study. The approval of this report in January gave the green light for the development of alternative plans to address the problems surfaced during the initial problem identification phase.

Self-improvement is as American as apple pie, with wide ranging educational programs abounding throughout the land. The abundance and variety of such educational programs convey a mixed message. Obviously a sentiment is widely shared that there is room for improvement in many areas. At the same time, the existence of these programs represents a sense of optimism that education can remedy troublesome deficiencies and inadequacies.

Consider the phrase "constructed wetlands." Although not a contradiction in terms, the two words make up an unlikely combination. Construction implies a project fabricated and built by humans. What then has construction to do with wetlands, natural areas formed by the complex workings of geology, biology and hydrology?

Because the Endangered Species Act is concerned with the effects of human activities on the natural environment, the law covers a lot of ground, both real and figurative. It can regulate large geographic areas of desert, mountains and forests, as well as have wide legal implications affecting a range of human activities: political, social, economic, and cultural.

Cliches come easy when the importance of water is discussed. Water is life. Water is destiny. "Whiskey is for drinking and water is to fight over" is an oft used phrase to acknowledge water's more immediate influence, especially in the West. Many speakers have proclaimed that water is a driving force in western politics and a wave upon which much of the economic activities of the region rise and fall. In short, water is pretty important stuff.

Expecting safe, drinkable water to flow from household taps once was an unquestioned assumption. This assumption was founded upon various acts of faith - in progress, technology, and the local water utility. For many people, however, this comforting assumption no longer holds true. We of little faith are becoming wary of tap water, questioning its quality and suspicious of its health effects.