EDITOR:
As previously noted by me there is insufficient time permitted in three minutes of testimony to adequately address the complex matter of the public hearing on water rates. The purpose of this communication is that you accept this letter for the record, and for those unfamiliar with demographics and the availability of fresh water in this arid area and the entire planet to understand the importance of the subject to our future survival.
What is happening here is similarly happening over the entire planet. The availability of fresh domestic water is a limited non-renewable resource being wasted and destroyed by man unnecessarily.
Your approach is a step in the correction of existing conditions; namely a municipal water system to supply adequate domestic and irrigation water so that man can survive. Without fresh water he will perish. Your methods are archaic, lacking proper consultants and procedures. You should change your approach to current and proven methods fair to all residents.
Most of you are aware the planet is covered by sea water and this is why there is life on Earth. Our largest readily available source of fresh water is groundwater - that portion that falls on Earth's surface and returns to the ocean underground. It represents 20 percent of all fresh water on Earth. In the United States, 40 percent of all fresh water comes from underground resources in about half of the states. The other source is glaciers with only sparse amounts from lakes and streams.
With the change from grasslands, farming, ranching and populations, the demand for this fresh water has geometrically increased over the past two centuries. For fresh water that enters the Earth's surface at the source of aquifers to arrive at the source needed for people and agriculture, through rocks and minerals takes on the average several hundred years. In the meantime, we are using fresh water at unbelievable speed and quantities compared to the availability. This cannot continue. Something has to change. Next comes the creation of a municipal water system to offset our needs. History shows that next the ground water and water table fall with use and arid conditions. The existing wells have to be deepened and will no longer meet our needs. This means higher costs, larger systems, desalting and conservation. Aquifers cannot be replaced by us or recharged to handle existing needs. This is what we are facing now and here.
Your procedures must improved to educate, solve and meet the needs of this community for any support.
Harold L. Johnson
Job's Peak Ranch
