Thank you for your timely Jan. 27 editorial “A river runs dry.”
I am a retired professional water engineer. I’ve prepared projects for international financing and, as a senior World Bank staff member, assessed whether submitted projects should be recommended for bank financing. Everything I have read about the Lake Powell pipeline suggests that it should not be financed.
Is there proven demand? Probably not, once new, higher prices for water kick in. Is this the best solution? Probably not, as serious conservation is usually the first remedy when there is profligate consumption. Are the cost estimates reliable? Not likely, as capital and operation and maintenance costs are still being developed. Can the beneficiaries meet the costs? Uncertain, as the costs are not defined, but very unlikely, as immense rate increases are probable. Are there serious risks? Obviously, yes. Shortage of water in the river, legal disputes over interstate allocations, legal questions, significant reductions in demand due to price elasticity and possibly many others, once the project is actually fully defined and costed.
I can understand Utah feeling very strongly that it must protect its allocations in the face of likely future shortfalls. That is the state’s responsibility. But to spend millions on half-baked studies without facing up to reality is doing the residents of the state a profound disservice. It is time for a serious interstate collaboration to reassess the Colorado River Compact, to devise ways we can all best address severe shortage.
Meanwhile, the pipeline is a nonstarter.
Richard Middleton, Salt Lake City