History repeating itself.

• Author: Rea, Raymond
• Position: Letters

Joelle Harvic's two part series "Water, Water Everywhere?" (December 2002 and January 2003) makes a fundamentally sound and persuasive argument that land planning and water management decisions need to be made in concert. Harvic eloquently points to the failures associated with the Florida Water Plan, the water use permitting process, water managers' ad hoc decision making, and the water management system's disconnect between land planning, water availability and consumptive uses. The concept is not a novel one. This writer advocated such a position in the Journal 20 years ago. ("Drought in Florida: Nature's Response to `Comprehensive' Planning" (April 1983).

Thirty years ago, Dean Maloney's Model Water Code established the fundamental framework upon which coordinated land planning and water management decision making could occur. The genius of Dean Maloney's Model Code was in its simplicity: Water management decisions should be based upon sound science and planning principals. Simply put, know where the water is, how much is there, consume no more than you reasonably need of that which is available, in accordance with a comprehensive plan for the future. That equation remains valid today. The...