Water Wars

In the moments before sleeping and waking my mind has a tendency to drift over into subjects that I don't often have the opportunity to think about in my daily practice of life. In these moments, my mind might take on any number of subjects- what is ailing the UK basketball team, what will be Ariel Sharon's legacy, why incompetent people become Kentucky state legislators, what Jim Bunning actually does with his time besides watching Fox News, etc. Today's waking thoughts were on the struggle between Kentucky American Water Company and people who support local ownership of water in Lexington. My waking thought was that people in favor of local ownership should sponsor a Water Studies Conference in Lexington that might draw the best thinkers in the water wars. They might even be bold enough to invite speakers who would promote water privatization, in an effort to foster a healthy public debate among specialists, not talking heads. By inviting scholars with diverse, international backgrounds the Lexington Public could learn more about what water worldwide, permitting a better understanding of how this debate plays out in a global context.

I think a public conference would be a better vehicle to promote public understanding because some sectors of the population are taken aback by the protest motif, and like it or not, local ownership proponents will require support from an array of political personalities in order to be successful in their struggle. Of course such an endeavor would have to be well-publicized and organized. If I were a FLOW person I would locate a professor at UK or Transy who has ample experience organizing high-level symposia that bring in international scholars. KET could film the conference, and perhaps Bill Goodman could moderate a panel of the scholars. Maybe all of this has already taken place when I was out of the country, I don't know. I just think that people who have a commitment to local ownership need to imagine ways to maintain the water issue in the minds of voters, and that a well-publicized, publicly accessible conference on the local water ownership debate might be one way to accomplish that. I am right in my thinking that this still can go to a vote in the next scheduled election, or I am gonzo?