Print View From: Maia Taylor To: Date: Wednesday - September 30, 2009 12:38 PM Subject: Proposed Pipeline To Whom It May Concern, As a resident of the arid Southwestern United States, our inability to adapt to the water issues we face at various times deeply concerns me. Nevada and Utah are the two driest states in the U.S., yet these states continue to expand whereby greater and greater amounts of already-scarce water are called for. Instead of changing our patterns of water consumption, energy use, and urban expansion, we seek out increasingly absurd ways to perpetuate our outdated methods; this practice has only found us in progressively more dangerous positions. Due to this habit, Las Vegas, a seeming-oasis in the middle of the driest part of the United States, now runs the risk of running out of water entirely. Rather than reducing the excessive water use of the city, politicians have proposed building a pipeline to tap not one, but two aquifers. I am a student in my final year of ecology at the University of Utah and would like to remind those who read this letter of a few of its principles. Ecology is defined as the study of organisms and their environment. This implies that all things have some type of interconnection and rely on one another for some aspect of their livelihood. With that in mind, I would like to state again that Nevada and Utah are the two driest states in the U.S. Aquifers, as you most likely know, are underground deposits of water, also known as groundwater. This water takes millions of years to build up and remains in delicate balance with the surrounding land, vegetation, and climate. If people drain aquifers, the land is left without water to speak of which results in death of plants, followed by the death of fauna, and generally relegates the region to a “wasteland.” The desert land around the Snake Valley and Spring Valley aquifers rely a great deal on these two sources of water; without them, the areas will be severely damaged. Land subsidence will likely occur, in which the disappearance of water creates a weak foundation and the land sinks (the San Joaquin Valley of California and Mexico City are prime examples of this). The nuclear testing which occurred in Nevada during the twentieth century left vast deposits of hazardous materials on the land. Aquifer depletion will allow these toxins to blow into the air as particulate matter and will most likely be inhaled. I hope that no one has forgotten the high counts of cancer which occurred in the areas surrounding the test sites after the aforementioned years. As a resident of Salt Lake City, I am alarmed that the air stream blows directly into this valley from Nevada. I can’t think of a single person who would like to become a new generation of Downwinders. I have never encountered a single individual who argues against the inaccuracy of the Colorado River Compact and how this has damaged the West, particularly in recent decades. The Compact is antiquated at best yet we keep reacting emotionally at the idea of redistributing the water rights. The Colorado River no longer reaches the Pacific Ocean; this is not any type of secret, but I feel it necessary to remind people of this fact. The Colorado River is the most managed river in the world and it does not reach the ocean any longer. Mexico does not receive their entire allotment of water. We are literally depriving other people of water. And now Las Vegas wants to tap into the Snake and Spring Valley aquifers to perpetuate their city in a desert? I feel infuriated at this prospect and how far it has come. Las Vegas will only find itself in worse circumstances than it is now should this irrational water consumption go unchecked. We cannot continue to support this type and amount of waste in any capacity. When we hear the word “sustainable” we must ask ourselves four questions: what is sustainable; who is it sustainable for; for how long is it sustainable; at what cost does this sustainability come? The proposed pipeline can answer none of these questions with any assurance. The pipeline aims to give Las Vegas more water since the reservoirs which supply the city hold less and less water as time goes on. This groundwater use will supply only Las Vegas with a limited amount of water for the future. The groundwater will only last a limited number of years—I do not feel comfortable offering an estimate—given that aquifers take millions of years to regenerate. The pipeline will deplete natural water sources the surrounding environment has relied on for millions of years, create land subsidence, and dry the surrounding areas which will lead to hazardous particulate matter lifting into the air which will most likely blow directly into Salt Lake City, the most densely populated area in Utah. I urge you to reconsider the Snake Valley Pipeline proposal. This pipeline is an arrogant use of power and a fraudulent representation of the predicaments facing the Southwest. The proposed Snake Valley Pipeline will only create more and greater problems for the future adding strain to the healthcare system, Western water rights, and creates a precedent for encouraging outrageously Sincerely, Maia Taylor Co-director, Sustainable Environments and Ecological Design