Letter: Let’s conserve Utah’s water before grabbing more
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Andy Golden of Benchland Water District at Reservoir B in Farmington, Wednesday July 25, 2018. The reservoir typically holds between 15 and 20 million gallons of water.
Before spending a couple of billion dollars on a pipeline or grabbing water from aquifers anywhere else in the state of Utah, there should be a requirement that the water authority agencies for St. George and all of Utah first develop a “toilet to tap” water reclamation system.
There is such a system in San Diego, Bill Gates funded a small prototype in the Seattle area and such a system has been in use in Africa for decades. Given the enormous projected growth of the population in Utah and given the belief that the current droughts are becoming the new normal, such investments should be undertaken everywhere.
It is also good to remember that the Colorado River is overcommitted and not a viable “new” source of water, especially as snowpack and rainfall may continue to decline.
Connie Ball, Kanab
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