WSPP335 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

penverPost.com - LETTERS Page 3 of 5 work cooperatively to keep Lake Mead and Lake Powell levels from being depleted amid SOO-year drought conditions that have developed over the past five years. That's why the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California declined during the past two years to take more than 800,000 acre-feet of surplus Colorado River water to which it was entitled. The 18 million customers served by Metropolitan and the Family of Southern California Water Agencies have invested billions in conservation and recycling projects that have helped our region absorb a major reduction in Colorado River supplies. When it comes to water use, Southern California believes in prudence, not profligacy. Long before the current drought conditions you mention in your article, we started an aggressive indoor conservation program. Through voluntary programs, we're making similar conservation gains in the business community. We lessened the demand on the Colorado River by investing steadily in contaminated water recovery, storage, transfers, water supply options, reclamation and system flexibility. Southern Californians have reduced their per capita water consumption below that of many cities in the West, and our overall demand for imported water has remained relatively flat despite population growth. We're also making a shift toward the use of drought-tolerant native and California-friendly plants, which substantially reduces water consumption outside the home. We're confident that the seven states, with federal help and leadership, can come up with cooperative, durable solutions that will make the basin more drought- resilient, avert shortages entirely or make them more manageable over the short and long terms. But it will take the unified efforts of all the users, not just the lower basin states as suggested in your article. Wes Bannister, Chairman, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California CBS News firings Re: "At CBS, a parable on haste," Jan. 12 editorial. What a joke! This was nothing more than a political witch hunt designed to slander George W. Bush. Dan Rather should have been fired, not protected like some elder statesman. While I'm not a huge fan of Bush and his sketchy service record, the media need to cry foul as loudly as they can over such journalistic abuse. http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0.1413.36%257E416%257E.00.htm1 1/1412005