Letters to the Editor: Save the Colorado River. Desalinate water from the Pacific Ocean has been tapped by the Army Corps of Engineers for irrigation of California. This is equivalent to draining the Colorado. Water is the only source of water the world over and will be in our drinking water for centuries to come. Ditto for irrigation of farmland. A gallon of water evaporating from Colorado River can replace a gallon of water taken from the ocean. The only source of water the world over: the Colorado.
The California legislature has authorized desalination to replace Colorado River water and is considering an irrigation bill that would use it to irrigate farmland. This is an expensive process, requiring more than twice the amount of water. The United Nations estimates that the irrigation will cost approximately $5 billion, which is more than the state’s entire budget for water. It is obvious that our government has gone completely insane. If the government is going to replace California and all of the other western states with the “it must be so” mentality, it must know by now that it is all fantasy.
Gloria G. Johnson, Phoenix
Water for the masses?
The water board is so desperate to find more water for the people that it has approved a new well in a desert town without the approval of our elected leadership in this county. All it needs was a vote by citizens to approve this project and it is a noncontroversial project. I have lived in this county for more than thirty years and never seen anything to make me believe that the vote of the citizens would be overridden by the water board and the water managers at the water district office. Who are they? It would appear the water board is a bunch of bureaucrats trying to help the masses. Can they help the masses? We have had enough.
In addition, what the water board does is to take our water and then sell it. We pay for this water. We pay a higher rate because the water board is buying our water. As members of this water board and as representatives of the citizens of this county, it is time for us to speak up. Vote against the water board. Vote for a citizen’s water board.
