Aug. 30, 2005 - 21:27 MDT

EQUITABLE CONTROL

Some things in life seem so mundane and plentiful, but thinking about it -- they are neither mundane nor plentiful.

Anyone who doubts the value of table salt, I would hazard a guess, has never tried to eat potatoes boiled in unsalted water, and salt is used to replace salt sweated out of our bodies else we have grave physical problems.

I guess here in the West water takes it's place on the precious list too. Not like back east -- it is scarce here -- especially potable water. It has been fought over, I suppose, since Pioneer days.

Jerd Smith of the Rocky Mountain News has an article in this morning's paper dealing with H2O. In full:

STATES AIM FOR DROUGHT DEAL

Letter promises more cooperation on Colorado River

"Colorado and six other Western states have signed a letter pledging to work together and test new ways to manage the Colorado River in times of drought."

"In April, the states deadlocked in their efforts to cooperate, prompting U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton to step in and begin crafting a federal drought plan for them."

"Since then, the states have held several negotiating sessions, resulting in the recent pledge to Norton, said several people involved in the negotiations."

"We're encouraged," said Mark Limbaugh, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for water and science, though he cautioned that he hadn't yet read the letter."

Among key ideas the states have agreed to examine, according to Colorado negotiatior Jim Lochhead:

"An agreement not to sue one another for several years over the 1922 Colorado River Compact, which divides the river's waters between the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico, and the Lower Basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada."

"A promise to look at whether Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the two largest storage structures on the river, can be operated so that each has roughly equal levels. A new management plan for the two reservoirs could help both the Upper and Lower basins better manage their supplies. It could also protect Upper Basin states from a demand for extra water in times of shortages in the Lower Basin, Lochhead said."

"A promise to lobby for federal funding for such things as additional water conservation and storage projects in the Lower Basin, desalinization projects and basinwide cloud-seeding programs."

"Six months ago, we couldn't even agree on an agenda for a discussion," he said."

"Rod Kuharich, another negotiator in the talks and director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, characterized the letter as "a commitment to work together."

"Finding new ways to oversee the river, which serves 25 million people throughout the West, has become a critical issue because the five-year drought has made it clear to the fast-growing states along its banks that the Colorado River's flows are finite."

"Even if the drought ends, federal forecasts show the river will have increasing difficulty keeping up with the demands of millions of new residents expected to arrive, particularly in Nevada and Arizona."

"Powell and Mead were designed to help manage the river's varying flows, storing excess water in wet years, and carefully parceling it out in dry spells."

"Since the drought began, however, both reservoirs hit record lows, raising fears in the Upper and Lower basins that both regions would have to do without water if the drought continued."

"Lochhead and others, however, warned that despite the new pledge to Norton, the states have yet to formally agree on anything."

"The jury is still out on whether these discussions will bear fruit," he said."

"Norton has said she wants a plan in 2007."

"But Limbaugh said he felt that the state's progress would help propel the writing of a new drought-management plan."

"Any time people agree to move forward in a litigious society, it is important," Limbaugh said. And it's going to be critical to the future of the river."

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The Colorado River which starts at the top of the Continental Divide above Estes Park is a river essentially that begins in the mountains, flows through desert country most of its way. It flows through the Grand Canyon, so far down from the normal surface that one would die of thirst before they could hike down and get a drink. It is amazing that a river flows through such desert country and not dry up and vanish.

Here and there along the way some of it is diverted -- for instance I presume that some of the water is used by Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction, Colorado before flowing on into Utah, but most of it goes to Southern California I think.

Takes me back, not too long before we sold our house in Denver water meters were put on all houses there. Up to that time water was not metered and though watering hours and days were established in town, gallonage was not specified.

And people kept migrating to our town, old barracks buildings in Aurora were converted to apartments, huge new complexes were built on land that was weedy areas as late as in the eighties. Every where one would go new residence type habitation could be seen. North of Denver, land that once had farms now has developments and the cities between Denver and Cheyenne are growing by leaps and bounds. Makes me wonder, do all families raise their children with the mindset to move to Colorado ? Some arteries here that used to be busy during the rush period are becoming semi-parking lots with grid lock.

So, anyhow, the population of our area is increasing at a gigantic rate, but the rivers are not getting bigger or have more water running through them, even in wet years the flow is much the same as it was when there were fewer people living in Colorado. And I guess that Arizona, California and parts of Nevada are gaining new import people too.

One thing, briefly mentioned is desalinization plants on the river. As the river proceeds to the Gulf of California different sources contribute salt to the water. I know of two hot springs in Utah that have been shut down as their water was too salty. Don't know what the state did, whether they capped them or not.

And in our area, people still demand nice, smooth, tufty lawns. Sod that would do well in humid parts of our country or England but sure doesn't belong in this arid climate. Yeah, I know, I still like to step out barefoot in the morning and get my bare toes dewey on the grass, it's a grand feeling. Maybe we should all have a two foot by two foot square of sod for that purpose, watered by gray bathwater perhaps.

It appears to me that population here is increasing much faster than the infrastructure is growing. Highways are getting rough and bumpy and running bumper to bumper much of the time.

Perhaps what I am trying to say is that all our Western states better get it together and set up, at least for water, a means of EQUITABLE CONTROL . . . . . . . . . . .

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