You did a very good and accurate summary of my posts. My only correction is that San Diego County Water Authority invited me to make the presentation. I was not retained. I often make presentations sharing my intellectual capital and 40 years of experience in western water, including the Western Governor’s Association last year, Arizona’s Water Research Center and, most recently, the Texas Water Summit.

The whole point of my Hydrowonk blog is to share information and analysis of major western policy issues. The BDCP is one. I have not personally been involved in the multi-year, hundreds of millions of dollars spent to date on this plan. Instead, I have been involved on the Colorado River, bi-national issues and major issues in Texas, to name a few. My posts (which will continue) on the BDCP is based on a professional examination of information, data and analysis of the actual documents. If and when the BDCP tries to move to the venue of capital markets, the “insiders” must anticipate that there will be extensive due diligence. So, the public service of my blog is to provide an early “heads up” about the issues that must be addressed convincingly.

Regarding the comment posted, the internet must accept that there are trolls who do not want to identify themselves. Emotion is never the anchor to sound decision making. Instead, identify facts, data and analysis that may disagree. Drill down on the basis of the differences and see where one can reasonably take from alternative viewpoints to get a better handle on how to navigate an important and uncertain future.

The commenting troll, of course, has nothing to offer. In law school, they teach if you have the facts, argue the facts. If you don’t have the facts on your side, agree the law/legal theory. . If you have neither, argue procedure. Turning from law to politics, if you have nothing to say, turn to character assassination.

There is an old saying in politics. You know you are willing when the opposition engages in character assassination. Therefore, the conclusion I draw from the troll is that I’m correct.

Thanks again for putting out my thoughts. Perhaps, there can be a more productive dialogue.

Best Regards

Rod

Dr. Smith is involved as an advisor in the acquisition of water rights throughout the western United States and in the sale and leasing of water rights and water supplies to public and private sector water users. He has consulted extensively for public and private sector clients, including high net worth investors, on business and public policy issues concerning water resources, including California’s Drought Water Bank, the government of New South Wales, Australia’s effort to privatize irrigation organizations, and the eco­nomic, financial, legal, and political dimensions of water transactions in many western states. Rod worked on the IID/San Diego County Water Authority Agreement, the settlement of Colorado River disputes on behalf of the Imperial Irrigation District, and the acquisition of 42,000 acres from the United States Filter Corporation, an unit of Veolia Environment. He is routinely involved in economic valuation of water rights, water investments, and negotiation of water acquisition and transportation agreements. He has also served as an expert witness in the economic valuation of groundwater resources, disputes over the economic interpretation of water contracts, economics of water conservation and water use practices, and the socio-economic impacts of land fallowing.

Dr. Smith has written extensively on the law, economics, and finance of water re­sources and water policy. In 1987, he created and became co-editor of Stratecon’s paid-circulation publication Water Strategist: A Quarterly Analysis of Water Marketing, Fi­nance, Legislation, and Litigation, In January 1999, the publication became a monthly web-based publication (www.waterstrategist.com) and information service, Water Strategist, which extended its coverage to include developments in the emerging private corporate participation in western water matters. In addition, Stratecon, Inc. introduced The Water Strategist Community, (www.waterchat.com) a web based news portal providing free access to the direct press releases and important reports from over 300 public agencies, water firms and bond rating agencies. In 2011, Stratecon stopped publishing Water Strategist and replaced it with a contract research service based on its proprietary database.

Rod is also known for his books Troubled Waters: Financing Water in the West and Trading Water: A Legal Framework for Water Marketing, sponsored by the Ford Foundation through grants to the Council of Governors’ Policy Advisors. Former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt wrote the forwards for both books.

Dr. Smith received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago and a Bach­elor of Arts in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles. Prior to making a full time commitment to the private sector, he was a professor of economics at Claremont McKenna College for fifteen years, Director of the Lowe Institute of Political Economy, and a member of the editorial board of Economic Inquiry, the professional economics research journal of the Western Economics Association. In 1989, he was the John M. Olin Visiting Professor of Law and Economics at Columbia Law School. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was also a visiting assistant professor of economics at the Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, where he also served as the Associate Director of the Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, founded by the late Nobel Prize winner in economics, George Stigler. Rod started his career after graduate school as an economist at the RAND Corporation. He currently serves on the Board of Visitors of the School of Politics and Economics, Claremont Graduate University.

G. Engineers shall not maliciously or falsely, directly or indirectly, injure the professional reputation, prospects, practice or employment of another engineer or indiscriminately criticize another’s work.

Its easy for anyone to ask pot shot questions intended to make the target seem silly and the writer seem smart. But it does cal watchdog great disservice and I would urge Calwathcdog to remove this article before you lose any more credibility with readers that actually know water.