Do we have a national water policy?

Excerpt

OUR national water policy, with some exceptions, can be characterized by the words “too little too late.” In fact, it appears to have been developed under the same philosophy that led the person who, upon discovering that his horse had been stolen, decided to lock the barn door. And one of the problems is the way it is administered by the U.S. Congress.

Definition of policy

The concept of a national water policy is hard to define, in part because of the difficulty in defining the word “policy.” It is a complex word; it means different things to different people. The word has two roots in the languages from which many of the words in the English language are derived. The first is based on the French word “polis,” or city, and similar early Greek words, from which the following definitions are listed in Webster's unabridged dictionary: (1) political wisdom or cunning, diplomacy, prudence, artfuiness; (2) wise, expedient, or crafty conduct or management; and (3) any governing principle, plan, or course of action. The other root is a Greek word that means “to display, or make known,” from which …