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Treat with a hook
Editorial
Rethinking the West’s approach to water
What if we started putting more water into the Colorado River basin instead of ratcheting down ever further how much is taken out of it? Increase supply, in other words, instead of futilely trying to curb demand.
As news reports continue to remind us, the Colorado River has been drawn down over the decades by exponential growth in lower-basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada. But rather than brainstorming only how we can limit use of the West’s most precious commodity, how about finding new sources of water to augment rivers like the Colorado?
Generations of conditioning by the environmental movement’s most ardent hand-wringers has left society thinking the only way to sustain scarce resources is to use less — no matter the cost to other human endeavors.
It’s a narrow view that ignores the scientific and technological breakthroughs, engineering innovations and economic developments that have either reversed scarcity or bypassed it over the ages, moving civilization ever upward and onward.
The naysayers are oblivious to it all — and have the upper hand on Western water policy.
As reported by our news affiliate Colorado Politics, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation recently announced it will pay farmers in Arizona, Nevada and California to scale back their water use.
The newly created Lower Colorado River Basin System Conservation and Efficiency Program will pay farmers in those lower-basin states up to $400 for each acre-foot of water they don’t use. The program will be funded with part of the $4 billion allocated for Western drought relief by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Sounds like an inefficient way to save water — essentially, paying farmers not to irrigate and thus, to produce less. Granted, that approach isn’t new; it has been used by Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for years to limit production and thus support higher prices for farmers. But paying them to produce even less with the roundabout aim of reducing water use seems like it at best will just spread the pain around.
Fortunately, some are rethinking all this.
In a published commentary, water and energy consultant Carmine Iadarola points to advancing technologies that allow the effective large-scale reuse of water.
“As a result of (its) own water crisis, Israel recycles and reuses nearly 90% of its water; Spain over 30%," Iadarola writes. "By comparison, the U.S. reuses less than 10%. The technology to use and reuse water in a decentralized system already exists as proven by countries all over the world and is now being adopted by various cities in the U.S."
Meanwhile, Arizona’s state government is laying plans with Mexico for a jointly developed desalination plant that would turn seawater into fresh water along the Arizona-Mexico border, where the Colorado River empties into the Sea of Cortez. This year, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced he would work with his state’s Legislature to provide $1 billion to "secure Arizona’s water future for the next 100 years" through the desalination project. n See editorial, page A5
Letters to the Editor
Godwin and Gotberg for City Council
EDITOR:
After reading the article in the Mountain Democrat on the Placerville City Council forum, and watching the online video, I am voting for Paul Godwin and Nicole Gotberg. They will bring a fresh perspective and a good balance to the City Council.
I often watch the City Council meetings and they are very poorly attended. There are lots of changes coming and the community needs to be involved in those changes.
People care about their community and their neighborhoods. If someone has a concern, they need to be listened to instead of being labeled a “NIMBY.”
It is time to re-engage the public in meaningful ways. I believe Paul Godwin and Nicole Gotberg will be a breath of fresh air for the city of Placerville.
CHRISTINE KNAPP Placerville
Let’s keep Dennis Thomas
EDITOR:
We need to keep Dennis Thomas on Placerville’s City Council. He understands Placerville and keeps a logical outlook for solving problems that range from public safety to keeping our history intact. Dennis brought a steady hand to the City Council to guide us through the COVID-19 pandemic and back to normal without losing his sense of humor.
Dennis listens to residents, businesses and visitors. Dennis is able to see the big picture for our city. He supports efforts to find a solution to the weekend traffic parking lot on U.S. 50 that sends traffic flooding onto local streets and creating a nightmare for any emergency traffic and for Placerville residents. Dennis brought his extensive experience to benefit Placerville and has worked tirelessly for this city, his city too.
Dennis Thomas has my vote for City Council and I encourage those who also love Placerville to vote for him.
SUE RODMAN Placerville
Important to remember
EDITOR:
Scott Taylor wrote his usual anti-Trump diatribe (talk about Trump living rent-free in his head for two years), talking about history of Trump trying to find legal ways to stay where he thought a fraud had prevented him, like Hillary and many on the left saying the same thing in 2016, while ignoring the real threat to democracy — an FBI willing to lie to a FISA court to get the entire weight of the U.S. intelligence system to spy on a rival’s political campaign. Watergate on steroids.
Now, let’s get to what matters — the midterms that Mr. Taylor was supposedly writing about. The choices are simple. If you like energy dependence, sky-high inflation not seen in 40 years, sticker shock at the supermarket, gas prices that are so high they cut into the grocery budget of some ... then vote Democrat.
If you are not afflicted with the masochistic tendencies necessary to support the disaster listed above ... vote Republican.
Simple choice. Think of it every time you go to the market or the gas station.
GEORGE ALGER Placerville
Time
EDITOR:
Iam coming up on our 35-year wedding anniversary and my 60ht birthday. My wife tells me that she likes me so much more now than when we were first married — that I am wiser and calmer and less reckless than I used to be.
I tell her thank you, I try, but deep down I miss the 30-year-old me. I was the boy who not only did not know the answers but could not understand life’s questions. Still, I would wake up with the weight world on my shoulders and with the motivation of fear that I would fail to provide for my family, face it head on and attack the giants who continually tried to destroy us.
Today it is different, I do not have the sense or desire to prove my competence to anyone anymore. I focus on mentoring my grown, successful children
n See letters, page A5
Guest Column
Obama propaganda pushes for government to do more
Netflix is paying Barack and Michelle Obama millions of dollars to produce shows for them. The latest Obama documentary series is "The G Word." "G" for government.
As Netflix documentaries go, this one is remarkably stupid. It’s big-government propaganda.
Obama begins by claiming that he does his own income taxes, saying, "It’s actually easy."
I think he’s joking, but it’s not clear. "I’m amazing at them," Obama continues hours later. "You can be, too, if you use the helpful tools found at IRS.gov."
But that’s just silly. It’s so complex that millions of us pay to get help.
Obama’s series is hosted by silly comedian Adam Conover, who, correctly, calls himself "an idiot."
He uses his time with the former president of the United States to make lame jokes and, at one point, to make sandwiches. He compliments Obama
on how well he cuts the bread. It’s not funny. The series occasionally covers some serious issues — meat inspection, for example. But instead of honest reporting, actors do a skit suggesting that, without government, meat companies would John SToSSEL sell us dead, poisoned rats. "Food regulation was unbelievably successful," concludes Conover. But food is largely safe today mostly because slaughterhouses cleaned themselves up way beyond what government requires. Companies don’t want bad reputations. One company executive showed me how they voluntarily do extra things like treat beef carcasses "with rinses and a 185-degree steam vacuum." Also, "Equipment is routinely taken completely apart to be swab-tested." By contrast, for 90 years the U.S. Agriculture Department inspected meat with a crude process called "poke and sniff." Inspectors stuck spikes into carcasses and smelled them. They kept using the same
spikes, so they sometimes spread disease. The government only stopped poke and sniff in the 1990s.
A few times, Obama’s series admits that government agencies mess things up. Conover mocks FEMA, "not a name you normally hear after the words ‘did a great job.’"
No, but he then claims FEMA fails because it’s underfunded, saying, "How many lives could have been saved if FEMA had had the resources they needed?"
That’s ridiculous. FEMA doesn’t fail because it lacks resources. U.S. disaster relief funds have increased by billions. FEMA fails because it’s a government bureaucracy and bureaucracies do wasteful things like bring bottles of water to hurricane victims but then leave them at an airport.
The private sector is more efficient. "The G Word" sneers at what it calls, "this philosophy that the free market should be trusted over the government." But Walmart donates supplies much more efficiently than FEMA. They employ sophisticated weather tracking that helps them determine what assets are needed where. They get things to people because they lose money if they don’t.
Obama’s series smears those of us who are skeptical of government handouts. "In the wake of the Civil Rights movement," claims Conover, "some Americans began to resent the fact that the government was now providing assistance to Black and brown citizens."
What? We didn’t resent welfare because we’re racists. We objected because it created a new permanent underclass.
Handouts, President Ronald Reagan explained correctly, "discourage work."
So Obama’s documentary depicts Reagan as a vicious surgeon cutting valuable government agencies,
