About fifteen years ago I attended the Annual Shad Festival held at
Boscobel in Garrison, New York overlooking the beautiful Henry
Hudson River. While listening to one of the speakers, I
learned something very interesting and new to me at the time.
Most, if not all, of the United States jurisdictional waters are
owned by the citizens of the United States. There are
agencies and departments at many different levels that manage the
public trust waters and they do their job with the resources
allotted to them by the various budgeting committees. We fund
these agencies and put our trust in them to do the right thing
given the circumstances that have to be considered at any point in
time such as the rainfall amounts, the heat index, wind chill, the
economy, how much fuel is in the tank, whether there's bread in the
pantry, meat on the grill, and finally checking to see if that
little 'ole yellow light bulb that is used on the front porch that
doesn't attract flies at night isn't burnt out, and many
more.
Water
lovers from all around the world have a common mission to
protect our water quality. They come from all walks of life,
nationalities, and parties to work together. Each ones
primary goal is to assist in a common vision to ensure that your
water is pure enough to drink, clean enough to swim in, healthy
enough for animals to drink and fish to live in. They work
long hours just as others do within other organizations and
sometimes for nothing to seek out polluters, and to search for
solutions with pollution problems and seek partnerships with
like-minded organizations.
When I grew up on Lake Marion, I heard many individuals give
their opinion about the water such as the water levels, garbage,
litter, tires, and toxic waste dumps. I was young then and
was very far from understanding the dynamics, scope and
ramifications of how water affects every aspect of our daily
life. My primary concerns about the water back then was
where the schools of large mouth bass in Elliotts Flats were
located and where the best place to place a few dozen duck decoys
in Sparkleberry Swamp was. After returning home I have found
that some things have changed and some things have gotten
better. Some people still complain about the water, and some
people do something about it.
Since the public trust waters of the Santee River Basin are owned
by you, me, and every other citizen who resides in the basin, I'll
call it mine, you can call it yours, and we'll take ownership
and responsibility in continuing our best management practices
(BMP's) to protect our water. Sea you Water Lovers out
on the water…