Managing without adequate information

That's the story with our use of water. We analyze that use once every five years. The most recent report we have is for the year 2010. The report, which at 64 pages is fairly small, gives the use of water in each state by quality and quantity, by source, and by whether it’s used on farms, in factories or in homes. Yet in the past few years we've had droughts, poisoned water and polluted water; none of which were foreseen in the report for 2010 (which was issued in 2014). 

It looks that finally we are trying to address the issue. The White House is hosting a Water Summit, where it promises to unveil new ideas to galvanize the sleepy world of water. The question White House officials are asking is simple: What could the federal government do that wouldn’t cost much but that would change how we think about water? The best and simplest answer: Fix water data.