The Rostrum
By WILLIAM C. ACKERMANN
Chief Emeritus, State Water Survey

There's a job opening in Natural Resources

THE STATE WATER Survey survived some troubled times of changing values, of administrative neglect, and of general legislative and public indifference. Despite these hurdles, however, some might say that we have prospered. But we are now on a kind of plateau, with the prospect of only incremental growth from year to year, and with our funding growing only if the state's revenue expands. It is not the kind of prospect which will permit the natural resource agencies to address the critical issues which remain.

We have not always had the good fortune to be in an Institute of Natural Resources with a director who had both an understanding and appreciation of the importance of our work, and at the same time, the ear of the governor. Through the years I have worked under six administrations, and more directors than that. Most of them have been intelligent, honest, well intended, but fully occupied with more urgent matters on the other side of the departmental house. A few were helpful when they were able, and one tried to do us in. Mainly we were left to our own devices, but forbidden to lobby for our programs and budgets. We have been without an organized constituency to march on the Capitol and make a large ruckus to get attention. And either such mass delegations or the quiet diplomacy of lobbying in the Capitol corridors is the way most programs win support. There is a desperate competition for slices of the state revenue.

Our principal audience is the budget examiner, and we have had a bright, new one every year, which insures that he or she listens without prior knowledge, and isn't around long enough to develop a positive prejudice. People like me tend to pride themselves on the importance of our work and the logic of our supporting arguments. But all that importance and logic fails against the stone wall of the standard Bureau of the Budget instructions that all expansions or new initiatives must be contained within the standard agency limit of no more than about plus five percent as an annual increment.

Of course, state government is continually under siege by interests much more powerful than ours, and this is particularly true in these times of Proposition 13 and a clear citizen mandate to reduce the size of government.

But then, who is to think of the long-range requirements of our natural resources such as water, minerals, soils and living things. It's not natural for the average citizen to do this, and particularly in these times of inflation. He is more interested in this week's price of groceries and gasoline. It's not natural, either, for the political system to think of the long-range future. The politicians are always running for reelection, and problems or products which are beyond 1980 scarcely exist in their minds.

Let me illustrate the problem by citing a portion of one of my budget arguments which has fallen on deaf ears and glassy eyes for some six or eight years:

"Sediment carried by Illinois streams is probably the most damaging remaining pollutant. Its damage is approximately equal to that from flooding. Sediment deposits in streams and thus increases flooding and results in costly dredging. It deposits in reservoirs and thus shortens their useful life. It increases the cost of water treatment for cities and industries, and is extremely damaging to aquatic life. It carries nutrients and pesticides. It detracts from the appearance and enjoyment of streams. It reduces light penetration, and thus affects the growth of aquatic organisms.

"In short, sediment is a major water resource problem in Illinois, not only for the soil loss it represents, but because of downstream damage. Yet there is no program to measure and characterize sediment, to identify its sources among agricultural, mining, construction, and urban sources. Such basic data and an understanding of the sediment problem are absolutely essential to the design of a control and remedial program."

Now, that sounds pretty important to me and brilliantly logical, but it hasn't brough us a nickel so far.

Not only is the budget process a political one, as it should be, but it also involves decisions at the policy level. And even though division chiefs may know more about their subject than decisionmakers and policymakers, they do not make the major policy decisions. They can, perhaps be more accurately described as workers in the vineyards — even famous, sometimes, in some circles — but not influential.

Rather than resolving our natural resource/environmental issues, we have instead created a bureaucratic jungle of regulations and paper work. We haven't yet evolved systems for efficiently and responsibly managing our air, water, mineral or living resources. The water pollution program as it

William C. Ackermann is now adjunct professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His remarks are excerpted from a speech he gave to the annual meting of the Institute of Natural Sources on October 2, one month before he retired as chief of the State Water Survey.

February 1980/Illinois Issues/35

The Rostrum
Continued from page 35

A job opening

relates to point sources is making progress, but we have come to recognize the immense problems connected with nonpoint sources from agriculture, construction, mining and urban areas. We haven't adequately measured the size of such nonpoint sources, and are far from having remedial programs that carry enough conviction and incentives to assure success. We have not created rational policies to develop our ample coal reserves while preserving prime farmland and insuring land reclamation.

I happen to be an organization man, but I don't think that present organizations can rise to solve our major problems. Whether by good works, by reports and commissions or by reorganization, governmental organizations can only institutionalize and carry out directions which are set by a few individuals. That is, individuals who break new ground and lead in new directions. I'm talking about men or women who will seize an issue, and will run the personal risks of advocating action or change. This requires people who are informed, dedicated and skilled. They may be governors, directors, legislators or private citizens. But the stakes are high, and time is short, and the job is begging to be done. Natural Resources needs a few good folks to take a lead. And it needs them now.

26/February 1980/Illinois Issues