David Op’t Hof: We complain, sure. But we should express gratitude when elected officials do the right thing.

I was surprised and excited when I heard on the news last week that the Central Utah Water Conservancy District was releasing 50 million gallons of water per day from reservoirs for the next few weeks. The water will leave the Jordanelle and Deer Creek reservoirs, flow through the Provo and Jordan Rivers and end up in the Great Salt Lake. Brilliant! Not only will the water start to refill the dangerously low Great Salt Lake, but it will make room in the reservoirs for the snow melt that we know is coming.

Since when does such a thing happen? Imagine, leaders planning ahead and taking action to fix an existing problem and prevent a future problem! Water manager Wade Tuft and his staff are to be commended for their wisdom and forethought!

It reminds me of the creativity exhibited in 1983, another year with bountiful snowfall that threatened massive flooding when it started to melt. Instead of allowing that water to flow undirected into homes and businesses, leaders came up with the brilliant idea of using sandbags and other barriers to channel that water down city streets. I’ll never forget the sight of a river of water flowing down State Street and 13th South in Salt Lake City and streets in other cities to get safely to the lakes. That clever solution minimized what could have been a very destructive situation.

As the water level in Lakes Powell and Meade dropped lower and lower this past year, citizens in the west began to awaken to the perils of the 23-year drought we have been in. Many of us didn’t even know we were in such a serious drought for so long, myself included. I knew we had been asked to cut back on watering our lawns, but I had no idea the situation was so critical until my wife and I visited the Hoover Dam a year ago where the tour guide informed us that we had been in a drought for 22 years. What?

Another article in The Tribune this past week told how Governor Spencer Cox is promoting bills in the state Legislature to create long-term solutions to our lack of water. It’s not even an election year! The massive amounts of snowfall this past winter have indeed granted us a reprieve from the drought, and it’s wonderful that our leaders are taking action to encourage long-term solutions. Gov. Cox wants to pass legislation to help agricultural producers upgrade to water-saving technologies that will use water more wisely. We badly need their agricultural products, and they will need our assistance to bring their farms and ranches into the 21st century. The state will also pass laws to encourage replacing water-hungry lawns with xeriscaping. Lawns make sense in England, with its bountiful rainfall, but not in the desert climate of Utah.

It’s refreshing to have leaders who actually lead. Too many politicians want the power and the glory of their positions but never get around to serving their constituents. We complain when things aren’t going well, but we citizens need to express gratitude when elected leaders do the right thing. Let your state representatives know you support actions to preserve our water supply. We also need to acknowledge the many people who have done their part by pitching in to fill and place sandbags to control the flow of water this year. And don’t forget to thank the journalists who keep us informed with the facts about these situations. When people work together, great things happen.

David Op’t Hof is a retired educator, writer and philosopher.