LETTER: We only need a little bit

Max Dean makes a valid point in his March 6 letter (“Pipe dreams”) by noting that water rights would be a problem in efforts to take water from the Snake River to alleviate the severe shortage in the Colorado River basin. But one needs to take several matters into consideration.

First, we need only less than 2 percent of the more than 41 million acre-feet per year that flows from the Snake into the Columbia River, which dumps millions of acre-feet of fresh water into the Pacific Ocean yearly.

Second, Nevada and Wyoming, both Colorado River compact members, also have tributaries to the Snake River which should give them some water rights.

Third, the pollution along the Snake comes from milk processing waste and farm irrigation runoff, which if controlled according to the federal Clean Water Act, would benefit all people who are users.

A loss of less than 2 percent would have little effect on the pollution problem. Reading “The Lorax” by Dr, Seuss would help users to understand pollution’s bad consequences.