LETTER: A solution to the West’s water woes
I think the West’s ongoing drought conditions are drying up some people’s ability to use common sense. Now we have readers suggesting that we provide water to the Colorado River from the Mississippi River. While the suggestion is a little bizarre and would be very costly, the idea of diverting more lucrative water sources to the Colorado River is not.
In fact, aside from a sudden natural change in our climate, that is the only way the Colorado River flow will be able to reverse the drought conditions.
No amount of conservation or restrictions will fill Lake Mead and the other reservoirs along the Colorado but you can be sure our politicians will put those plans in front of finding an ultimate solution. We have been told that the continued building in Clark County isn’t a factor because the water used is recirculated back into Lake Mead.
So what is next? Will we be limited in how many showers or baths we can take? New landscape restrictions? How about limiting the size of a pool that you can build or prohibiting new pools? No my friends, these means are not a solution but the easy way to try.
The solution is to divert water from lucrative river sources. Look at the Columbia River in the Northwest. It dumps millions of gallons of fresh water into the Pacific Ocean every day. That river and the other rivers connected to it would be more sensible than the Mississippi and probably less expensive.
It has been reported that the largest hurdle would be in getting the permissions from the states involved to build such a pipeline. Are we to presume that these state governments would oppose such a life-giving measure? I believe that such a project would be difficult but not impossible.