To the editor: Kudos to reporter Ian James and The Occasions for explaining the dithering between states that depend on the Colorado River for water.
One comparatively new black swan hovering over this concern is the big quantity of water consumed by the information facilities being constructed for synthetic intelligence programs. Google mentioned it consumed 6.1 billion gallons of water to chill its knowledge facilities in 2023, 17% greater than in 2022.
Please, let’s hearken to the scientists who’ve been warning us for many years: Water Superman isn’t coming to avoid wasting us. So we should plan forward for the inevitable.
Understanding the dire sense of urgency, we must always a minimum of take into account — in lieu of bathroom to faucet, paying farmers to fallow their fields, sucking extra groundwater out of sinking land and beginning extra water wars — a 1,000-mile water pipeline from Lake Michigan to the Colorado River.
“Peak water” is right here. So our kids and grandchildren received’t need to undergo from extra draconian measures which are merely stopgaps, we should shake freed from the standard pondering on supplying water for agriculture, residents and now knowledge facilities all through the seven Western states that rely upon the dwindling Colorado River.
For the subsequent technology, we should suppose large and have the political will to construct a 1,000-mile water pipeline.
John Boal, Burbank
..
To the editor: There will likely be no equitable allocation of Colorado River water (or water from some other supply) till the businesses and attorneys acknowledge that you just can’t use water that doesn’t exist.
Many businesses basically say, “I’ve a contract for a certain quantity of acre-feet of water, so I’m going to take that a lot water.”
I’ve not heard anybody suggest scrapping all present contracts and allocating the water that truly enters the Colorado River system annually on a proportion foundation.
Parker G. Emerson, Claremont
