Embracing Water Issues Could Help Bush

After getting hammered on air quality issues, President Bush would be wise to find ways to make the environment his issue. It's a topic that will matter come election time, especially among suburban voters. We have a suggestion: water.

Water is the next big environmental issue, and it could fit neatly with the president's personal conservation streak. Having employed a water recycling system in his Crawford house, he should find it isn't that big a jump to embrace policies that promote wiser water use. The administration already has the beginnings of a policy. Its Western water strategy focuses on greater efficiency, more collaboration among governments and communities, and improved technologies.

Those are sensible goals. For example, Texas needs to make water conservation a greater part of its 50-year water plan. The feds can't do it for us, but they can help finance items like upgrading irrigation equipment and treating wastewater for reuse. Likewise, Texas and several states are looking at desalination as a new supply of water. Gov. Rick Perry rightly has pushed for that, and Texas could come up with a project that takes the salt out of water from the Gulf of Mexico and feeds it to towns in South Texas. But it, too, needs funding.

Better water use is one of those issues that requires as much common sense as financial clout. The Interior Department emphasized that reforms as simple as enclosing irrigation canals can make a difference. Mr. Bush, however, needs to put his muscle behind this policy. The House has funded it, but the Senate hasn't. The president could score some points for himself and help the rest of us by pressing the Senate to finance all of this strategy. It's the first step toward making water a major environmental cause.