Forget pipeline — let’s stop growth instead

To the editor:

In true Old West fashion, the chief of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, Pat Mulroy, has called for a shoot-out on Thursday. She wants an immediate vote on the pipeline that will bring water from the north.

The stakes are high (Aug. 7 Review-Journal).

In the same article, Shari Buck, the mayor of North Las Vegas, states our dire situation when she says that "it comes down to sustaining our lives here, not just (water) for new growth."

Ms. Mulroy adds, "It is high-risk to assume that the worst is not going to happen."

It seems to me that Ms. Mulroy and our county commissioners have already rolled the dice and placed us in a position of high risk. Southern Nevada may have already grown beyond sustainability.

The article goes on to point out that the pipeline from the north might supply 270,000 homes. If the Colorado River dries to a trickle, the water from the north would sustain less than one-third of what has been created in Southern Nevada. The article does not state whether water permits would stop once the pipeline started.

Taking water from the north is not much of a solution. No one knows how long the northern water will keep running when being drained into 270,000 homes. What we do know is that draining the north of its water will also drain the north of its future development and sustainability.

The big money likes big growth and controls politics. Politicians are voting on the pipeline. The pipeline is probably a done deal. Reason suggests that we should stop all growth and work toward sustaining what we have with less.

EVAN BLYTHIN

BLUE DIAMOND

Water questions

To the editor:

Your recent front-page article "Mulroy wants pipeline decision" has raised a few questions.

• If Lake Mead is running very low, which anyone can see is true, why are we not rationing water now?

• Why are we still issuing new permits for homes and businesses when we don't have the water to support what is here now?

• If we build this pipeline from rural, eastern Nevada, how much water will we be able to get?

• Will it be enough for 20 or 30 more years?

• And if Southern Nevada is in a drought, what makes anyone think the rest of Nevada isn't?

SUZANE JERMON DiNICHOLA

LAS VEGAS