LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “The maximum freedom of decision exists, of course, when no decisions have been made and the problem is one of establishing the social objectives and appropriate policies for their achievement,” wrote Professor Percy McGauhey (1904-1975), University of California Berkeley, author of Engineering Management of Water Quality
Percy McGauhey was an early proponent of an interdisciplinary approach for making better decisions. Buried in his textbook published in 1968 is this gem: “Ideally, the alternatives on which a final political decision is made in the field of water resources management should come from a team of experts from the several disciplines concerned. Historically, however, no such team has been utilized.” His hierarchy of decision making was the source of inspiration for the Partnership for Water Sustainability’s cascading approach to outreach and continuing education in the 2000s.
