COLORADO WATER WOES
Over-pumping on the Eastern Plains
Re: “Water, water … barely there,” Oct. 8 news story.
The alarm sounding for the depleting High Plains Aquifer has been going off for some time now. I taught this topic and others involving water supply and usage in middle school science in the 1980s. I know that some progress has been made, but in many respects, we’re no closer to an effective strategy than we were then. Our attitudes toward population growth are central to this dilemma. I greatly value our farmers and realize how water supply is paramount in providing food to an expanding population; therefore, shouldn’t it be concerning that our president and many in Congress advocate for policies that would make birth control less accessible for many women and would hamper the efforts of family planning in places like Africa? Kevin Grunewald, Cokedale
Your use of the word “mining” to describe the water extraction techniques of Eastern Plains farmers is particularly apt. A non-renewing resource has been thoroughly overused. As with any natural resource — animals, trees, minerals, oil, water — exploitation to depletion ultimately causes the economy based on that resource to collapse. The agriculturists of the Eastern Plains must now deal with a tragedy of their own making. Regrettably, their remaining choices are stark: Transition to dry-land farming or depart the Eastern Plains. Guy Wroble, Denver
The front page of last Sunday’s Denver Post shows the perfect reason that Denver should not pursue Amazon and its 50,000 jobs. Fifty thousand jobs probably means a minimum of 100,000 more people who need water, and we seriously lack water in this state. As the article mentioned, we have lost farm ground because the water necessary for food growth is being bought for more building, more people, more traffic and more loss of what makes this state unique.
We will lose more in the future as farmers will not be able to grow enough crops to be able to continue an expense-heavy and profit-light operation. We have good jobs that are going unfilled because high school grads are automatically shuffled to college at astronomical tuition when trade schools, at a much lower cost, produce workers ready to fill those jobs that have very good wages.
Colorado should pass on the Amazon temptation, because the so-called gain is definitely not worth all the unpleasant problems that our current citizens will be forced to deal with in the future. Sandra Weber, Burlington