Executive Director’s Column: On Water, Media Do Us a Disservice Don Felsinger, Sempra Energy’s Group President, got it exactly right in his closing remarks at our September 17th Forum Fronterizo on water. “If you think the energy crisis was bad,” Felsinger said, “the looming water crisis with the growing population and shrinking water supplies ought to call us all to arms and make us think hard about solutions.” As anyone who attended that forum knows, the solutions pose a daunting political challenge, perhaps the greatest challenge this border region has ever faced. Exec. Dir. Chuck Nathanson In the very near future, we need to begin transferring large amounts of water from the farming areas in the Imperial and Mexicali valleys to the rapidly growing urban areas along the San Diego/Baja California coast. This will require big investments in water conservation, environmental mitigation and economic development in the farming areas, paid for in large part by the coastal areas. It will also require construction of a new, multibillion dollar aqueduct to carry the water. Most important, the transfers are not likely to get the necessary political support unless there is constant dialogue and growing public understanding across the entire region. Inland and coastal areas and both sides of the border will need help in understanding each other’s points of view. Since we’re dealing with water, the opportunities for misunderstanding are legion. Here’s where media throughout the region are failing us. Every major newspaper and broadcast outlet on both sides of the border should have a regional water expert, and his or her first priority should be to get the facts straight on this very complicated story. As it stands now, the public is very badly informed on every aspect of this issue. Even attentive San Diegans seem unaware of the importance of the water transfers and have little idea how weak the support for them is in the Imperial Valley. Likewise, San Diegans seem universally oblivious to the fact that Tijuana is already on the verge of a water emergency that could have devastating impacts on both sides of the border. There is really no excuse for this media failure. The leadership of the San Diego County Water Authority has not only been talking about this problem, but also actively developing solutions to it, for at least the past three or four years. Tijuana’s crisis was first projected more than six years ago.