Comments on: A dry-weather crisis for Hoover Dam

The dam's governing authority is getting ready to decide what to do if there's not enough water for the future.
Photos: Losing water at Hoover Dam

[Heebee Jeebies]

I am amazed...

At how many places are facing a water shortage, yet expect residents to let their yards die, stop washing clothes and dishes, etc. Yet the states, county and cities continue to build more and more crap shacks (particle board homes) that apparently we can ill afford when it comes to natural resources like water.

Maybe instead of expecting people to let their property values drop 10 to 15% by letting their yards die they should stop building, stop wasting money on fountain filtration (here that San Jose) and conserve themselves. It seems a bit disingenuous to put all of this on the residents when that state, counties and cities continue to use large amounts of water and continue to build more of those particle board crap shacks.

Also, since Los Angles was unwilling to help California during the power crisis I think the rest of California needs to stop sending them water. Now power for us, no water for them. We need what we have, buzz off!

Robert

[fred dunn]

Agreed...New Construction Ban in Affected...

Areas. Someone has got to make a hard decision and new buidings (not replacing older buildings with equal floorspace) should be one of the mandates.
Ironically the idea of letting lwans die for the sake of saving water only means an increase in power demand due to the dead lawn no longer having the cooling effects on the house.
On the other side of that though is that you don't need 10 acres of lawn to have this effect so maybe some restrictions should apply there.
Poor populous planning is the root of this issue and until that is addressed this will be a recurring issue.

[Dr. Iguanadon]

The real crisis is....

.... that the government is looking to make everyone conserve and kill off their lawns to "solve" this problem. Even suggesting we pull from the water table.

The real crisis here are the 10 million illegal aliens living in the Southern California and Arizona areas. They're the ones who have driven water demand through the roof. If the Bush administration had done its job and enforced the laws on the books already we wouldn't be facing a shortfall.

[technikallyright]

illegal aliens adding to water shortage

Yes, and so many of those illegals are hired to water lawns and crops!

[KlondikeWolf]

... your ignorance.

There are a lot more than 10 million illegal residents. Every non-native is an illegal immigrant.

As for Mexicans, they originally were supposed to get water from the Colorado, but the dam stopped the river from reaching the Gulf of California or even the Mexican border as it originally did.

I don't expect someone to understand why its okay for luxury abuse of water for watering lawns should be curbed in the face of people dying from inadequate water ... its an American tradition you follow.

[watersource]

Source solution for Hoover Dam & Colo River

July 24, 2007

Letter to the Editor

Amazing that your "tour guide" Bureau Bob would say that no one has a solution when he knows full well we offered the Bureau a fresh water Source Three years ago ! Development of the Source will not damage the water rights of anyone, anywhere !

It is better to develop a new water Source for the Colorado River, or
more paper ?

For the eighty-four (84) years since the signing of the Colorado River
Compact, complex maneuvers have been on-going which have created
mountains of paper, but not a drop of new water for the Colorado River.
After all this time and thousands of meetings, my brother and I have
taken it upon ourselves to seek a real solution for the twenty-five (25)
million people who depend on the life blood of the Colorado River.

Thorough knowledge of water rights in the arid southwest and strict
adherence to the "law of the river" is absolutely essential to solving
such a complex puzzle as providing ample new water for the ribbon of fluid
so often fought over. Above all else, the riddle can only be solved if
no existing water rights are in the least bit damaged. Furthermore, no
plan is viable without ample protection for the environment and its
creatures.

The final pages of the struggle for a real "wet water" solution may
someday be written, because the marvelous Source has in deed been
discovered, analyzed and is ample for the burgeoning populations, industry and
recreation. Secondary return flow use of waters from the Source will
aid the restoration of the estuaries of the Colorado River Delta and
Salton Sea.

Why is it that the entities/agencies which have been empowered to
divert, deliver and distribute the water of the Colorado River have not
pursued the investigation of such a wonderful resource ? Have they not
been notified of its existence ? Have they not been assured that the
Source is real ? Of course they have ! Even with a 100% satisfaction
guarantee, they have thus far formulated no way to provide a few crumbs
from the water table to the two of us who have strived so long to
uncover the fountain of ample supply.

As the meetings convene and players take their seats in the halls of
justice and convention centers, let it be known that a real Source
solution does indeed physically exist which is legally and economically
feasible to develop to provide 750,000 acre feet of fresh water each year
for the dwindling Colorado River.

We can only hope we have found in your publication, a messenger who can
deliver to the people our claim of a vast water Source sufficient for
their expanding needs and future livelihoods.

We stake our collective 70 years of related water rights and
engineering experience on the existence of the Source we have described. We ask
you to report only what we claim; disclosure of the Source will
eventually speak for itself.

Respectfully submitted for publication,

Ray Walker (Retired Colorado River Water Rights Analyst)
249 Coyatee Shores
Loudon, TN 37774
865 408-0041
[e-mail]

[CNET BITES]

Why is it...

that total morons who decide to build cities in the desert, total morons who decide to move to cities in the desert, total morons who are politicians in desert cities that have no water to begin with feel they have a god given right to water that is not theirs. When the idiot politicians in the SouthWest mandate that all their citizens wear dune suits and drink their recycled urine I will maybe start to have some sympathy for the plight of waterless desert cities.

Here is a real eye-opener. Find out how much water is lost through old decaying water supply systems in EVERY city in the US. Oh give us more water but dont expect us to spend $$$ to protect what we do get.

[SeizeCTRL]

Reminds me of Sam Kinison

One of the funniest things I ever heard old Sam say was about starving people in Africa...

"This is sand. Nothing grows here. Know what it's gonna be like in a hundred years? It's gonna be sand! you live in a f--ing desert! We have deserts in America - we just don't live in them! Why don't you move to where the food is?"

[DatabaseDoctor]

Just visited...

I just returned from Vegas and visited the dam on Friday. The level of the lake and surrounding area is VERY low. There is an attitude of ignoring the danger from the folks there that we met and that run the tours. They quote facts about how much water is supplied by the Colorado River each year and how Las Vegas only takes 1/4 inch of the lake each year. Sounds overly optimistic when you see the current levels. My question is about the intake towers that are the initial point of power generation and down river water supply. How low can the lake go before no water can be put into the system? When this happens, there is no water downstream and no electricity for SoCal. The dam was built with overflow and excess in mind as it was built during the great floods of the early 1900's. Don't know if anyone designed contingencies for low water levels.

[jollyruss]

Water Shortage

Why not build solar-powered desalination plants to turn abundant sea water into fresh water? There is more than enough open land and sunlight to desalinate millions of gallons of sea water daily.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have desalination plants -- why can't we?

Conservation is the ultimate answer (not just for water), but unfortunately, conservation is not part of the American vocabulary.

We will continue to talk and talk about the pending water shortage and it will be too late -- that's the unfortunate reality of how things are (not) done in this country...

[califwater]

water

why can't California (The Rich State) use the Ocean water and de-salt it for there use instead of reling on the Colorado River Water.