One of my objectives in serving as your state representative is to show that there are some things private organizations can do better and more efficiently than government. There are private organizations throughout Indiana which are supplementing the effectiveness of Government agencies, or even exceeding the effectiveness of the government.
One of these private organizations that I have recently visited is The Watershed Foundation, a private conservation group which works to keep pollution out of our lakes and rivers. The group goes out and collects water samples from many lakes and rivers to check for pollution.
If the Foundation finds evidence of pollution, it investigates the likely source of the pollution and works with groups like farmers and homeowners to help change their methods to help keep pollution out of the water. The Watershed Foundation will also help reimburse costs to farmers to provide updated equipment to limit the damage to our water supply.
The Watershed Foundation is 100 percent funded by voluntary private donations—relying on no government handouts whatsoever. The Foundation’s leaders know that they have to keep working hard and be efficient stewards with the money that is donated to them.
The Watershed Foundation has enjoyed much success over the past 20 years. Moreover, they are achieving this success with better efficiency than a government agency, and without the coercive power of the state. Their efforts are paying off in terms of water quality in that over the past 15 years, 90 percent of their sampling sites in the watershed they protect have shown significant improvement.
The Foundation, projects it will finish an additional 35 projects this year to reduce runoff and erosion through objectives such as healthy shorelines, livestock fencing, and wetland restoration, among others. Foundation officials are also teaching other adults and the next generation how to better conserve our wetlands and our water supply.
In his famous book, “Democracy in America,” Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.”
The Watershed Foundation is a wonderful modern-day example of the volunteerism de Tocqueville described.
