Water solutions are out there

Water is a necessary ingredient for life, second only to air in importance. Even our food supply depends on the ready availability of water.

Our primary local water supply, the Ogallala Aquifer, is dwindling. Whether or not you believe this is an imminent threat, there is no doubt it’s not being replenished fast enough to keep up with demand. This can’t continue without causing real trouble at some point. For some people in the area, the future is now.

Several factors over many years have led to this situation, and there won’t be a single, immediate solution.

Governments over the aquifer ignored the warnings; they encouraged and subsidized irresponsible usage. They encouraged water-intensive businesses to locate in the area. Their hunger for ever-increasing amounts of tax money blinded them to long-term reality.

Now, many look to these same governments to provide solutions, including an expensive, temporary patch. Relying on a reservoir as a solution, when the reservoir depends upon fickle precipitation, is not exactly thinking ahead. It’s the equivalent of believing you’ll be OK after the water is shut off to your house because you can use the water in your water heater tank. To spend tax money on this patch aggravates the problem.

Of course, knowing what not to do still doesn’t mean I know how to solve it.

Perhaps our area simply isn’t suited for the population that now lives here. It’s possible. Sometimes truth isn’t pleasant. I don’t recommend giving up quite yet, though.

Maybe there are ways to replenish the aquifer, or better ways to recycle the water we use. I’ll bet there are technological fixes that could be found or invented if the regulators would get out of the way.

For example, new water-collecting materials that draw water from the atmosphere have been tested. Obviously these work better in places with higher humidity, but the technology is still young. Given a profit motive, someone would figure out a way to provide water where it’s needed.

If you are under the impression that water provided by government is free, while business is greedy and costly, perhaps you’d like to put the state’s motor vehicle bureaucracy in charge of distributing and selling gasoline.

Free-market business (not a government-granted monopoly rife with cronyism) would be cheaper and better. Nothing is free, and businesses must convince you to trade with them, while government simply says “pay or else!”

Serious issues deserve serious consideration; that’s no place for government.

Farwell’s Kent McManigal champions liberty. Contact him at: [email protected]