Soapbox

Really, Durango? Two new car washes during a megadrought?

The saying goes: “You only realize the value of something once it’s gone. ” When talking about our precious water resources in the West, that is a terrifying thought. Flushing the toilet, brushing your teeth, bathing – not to mention the water we drink to survive – all comes from a finite resource: snow. And now that we are getting less and less of it each year, and the uber dry soils are soaking it up before it can even reach waterways, we need to be smarter than ever about how we use this valuable resource.

From resources I found, a typical automatic car wash can use between 35 and 70 gallons of water per car to wash. Multiply that by 100 cars per day and you’re upwards of 6,000 gallons per day down the drain along with all the chemicals and soaps. Even if the car wash recycles the water, which happens infrequently, they are still using water we don’t have to waste.

On average, each person uses 80-100 gallons per day for home use. The largest chunk of that goes to flushing the toilet. I don’t know about you, but I’m grateful for our sewer system. Do I think improvements could be made in what type of water (ideally non-potable) is used to flush a toilet, yes, but that’s not my goal here.

I’m here to cast a shameful finger at the City of Durango for approving not one, but TWO new commercial car washes during a megadrought. Both are on the south end of town about a mile apart from each other. Given that there are at least six commercial car washes that I can think of (and possibly more), what in the world makes the city think we need two more? The city should be the one leading the charge in educating residents and tourists alike that our water is precious and finite.

I do realize that at times cars need to be washed, but the city should not be encouraging it during a megadrought by approving the construction of two new car washes. Apparently, the city managers who approved this decision are OK with not having enough water to drink, bathe and flush. – Kara Armano, Hesperus

Editor’s Note: Scott Shine, the City of Durango’s assistant director of community development, said the car washes are on properties that are zoned to allow that use, and the projects met development standards. Long story short: you can’t just deny a project because you don’t like what it is. But we get it – in a town that’s strapped topographically with so many needs, two new car washes seems pretty... ill-advised.

Threat to the world

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting destruction, deaths and war crimes against humanity has dramatically changed the status of our world, and are a wakeup call for Europe to be ready to confront Russia.

We are faced with a Russian devil who launches missiles to indiscriminately kill civilians and destroy civilian property. Ukraine needs the capability to destroy Russian missile-launching sites.

Europe remembers the murders, destruction and subjugation of World War II, and history is now repeating itself in Ukraine. NATO countries have to vastly increase their militaries, both defensively and offensively, to thwart Russia. Tactical nuclear missile systems should be deployed within NATO countries. The addition of Sweden and Finland to NATO will give it strategic presence in the north.

Economic sanctions against Russia must be maintained for years to drive the Russian economy into a depression. This will hurt the civilian population, but it is necessary to deprive the Russian military of funding and hopefully significantly degrade it over time. And, Russia must pay trillions of dollars in war reparations to rebuild Ukraine. The Russian devil and other Russian hierarchy should be considered pariahs of the world for years to come, and Russian embassies should be reduced to skeleton staffs.

P.S. Please contribute to Ukrainian relief agencies. – Donald Moskowitz, Londonderry, N.H.

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