Politics of Water
Water is the essence of life. Without Water, Life as we know it, could not survive. Even so, water in America is taken for granted. Having a constant access to water has made us blind to the ever present political struggle for access to water.
Even within the comfort of our own home states, water is a struggle. Water right for a close water source may be expended and search must go on miles and miles away. For this example I will use the City of Cheyenne's water source as a overview.
Cheyenne, Wyoming, has around 60,000 people in the city but near 100,000 people using the water system. Some people may be questioning, 'How on earth can you provide a constant access to water to 100,000 people?!' "Imagine Denver, Colorado, and the efforts they make to give people water day to day." Cheyenne's water system alone is complex. Traveling over 100 miles to find a water source, we created a delivery system that includes hundreds of miles of pip,e transferring water from; The Little Snake River, and the 3 branches of Crow Creek. Five dams build reservoirs in Crow Creek making; Granite Spring, Crystal, North Crow, Upper North Crow, And South Crow Reservoirs.
While Crow creek runs directly through Cheyenne, Little Snake River does not. Little Snake River is located over 100 miles West in a mountain range that is on the OTHER side of the Continental Divide. Transferring water from The Little Snake, to Cheyenne required negotiations with the State Engineer.
The Logical Solution would be to gather water from the North Platte river, which would provide MORE than sufficient amount of water to our city. Like all things political though, the North Platte Rivers water rights were already expended to other cities, and entities who needed access. Through a negotiation with our State Engineer, we devised the plan to transfer water from our claimed water source, to the North Platte River as to refill the water we would take at a lower point of the North Platte. To do this required the creation and contracting of other reservoirs and dams such as; Hog park, Seminoe, Rob Roy and Lake owen Reservoirs. We transfer water from snake river to hog park and seminoe as "trade water,' to fill north platte, and remove down stream. we then transfer the water we remove from the North Platte, to Rob Roy and Lake owen, to transfer to our local reservoirs.
From our Local reservoirs 'Crystal, Granite, and Crow reservoirs' the water is transferred to treatment centers that use sterilizing techniques ranging from chlorine gas all the way to ultra-violet light beams.
Even though we transfer water from over 100 miles away our Board of Public Utilities(BOPU) chose to expand water sources further. our city mans over 30 wells, also we have an extensive waste water system and untreated water system to provide for industrial and commercial use.
Our water system, providing water for 100,000 citizens and business's in Cheyenne, is paid for by the price of water, as well as taxes collected through local and state regulations. Businesses and industry, knowingly pay more for water that residents of Cheyenne, and this likewise helps pay for the efforts of the water collected.
A shifting question I hope is building in your mind, 'how much did this system cost?' Well in total, since we began creating our extensive system Cheyenne has spent over $300 million on transporting and maintaining a constant water supply. we receive loans approved by the state to do projects of expanding, maintaining and modernizing our system. Water prices are adjusted according to the cost of living and the yearly interest rates due by the city, but are never ridiculously high. on average the people of Cheyenne pay $4.00 per 1000 gal. of drinking water. the price of the service increases in residential areas but is still low. The cities debt for the system is sitting above $70 million but payments are being made on a yearly basis to ensure our credit stands strong.
The example of Cheyenne, Wyoming's extensive water system is more complex in other states. Each city and town requires a different amount of water and each cities water system becomes more and more complex. the problem is we use too much water, which steadily, or even rapidly increases the amount of water required for each city.
What will we do then, if our water sources are not enough to keep up with our daily demand?
How will we approach this issue? Will we become savage at the thought of our water being turned off after our daily maximum, 'According to the U.N. 100 Litres of water is sufficient per person per day. Less than 12 hr supply is sufficient as well.'
The mass chaos that would ensue because of the lack of our one basic necessity.
Pools, fountains, aesthetic plants, designer walls would all be rendered useless because the need to preserve this resource would be detrimental.
The possibility of marshal law being implemented, to protect water resources, 'and other reasons,' would be highly likely.
The nation would experience a drastic recession or worse.
We must use water properly. We must conserve water the best we can! The little things do amount for something. Cut your shower times by minutes if not in half, turn the water off when your brushing your teeth or shaving, dont run the water to heat it up before cooking if you don't NEED to. All these things can drastically reduce water usage in your town.
The politics of water can be deadly, unsettling at the least.
Lets be smart. and plan for the future, by saving water where we can.