High and dry
Californians learned the bitter lesson of being caught in
the dark, literally and figuratively.
They awoke one day to be told there’s a shortage of
electricity that surely will chasten their devil-may-care lifestyle.
Although the Wood River Valley generally is isolated from
shortages of life’s necessities, it’s not too early to consider
whether our water supplies are shrinking and thus imposing prudence in our
habits.
Blaine is one of six counties, including Butte, Lincoln,
Elmore, Bonneville and Canyon, designated as facing a drought emergency
this summer. And, despite the mountainous scenery, the Wood River Valley
area is arid, with scant annual rainfall as well as risks of periodic
reduced snowpacks.
Even though common sense suggests certain water
conservation measures, the whole valley would be well served if community
policymakers with a grasp of water supply and demand, created a water
conservation program.
It could include monthly statistics on probable available
supply, an index of what an average household uses monthly, a list of the
average consumption of various activities (washing a car, irrigating a
lawn, showering, flushing a toilet, washing a load of laundry, etc.) and a
set of suggested goals for reducing valley consumption.
Compliance would be voluntary. But communities at least
would be forewarned about possible shortages and how supplies can be
stretched through acts of homeowners and businesses to avoid mandatory
water savings measures.
Meanwhile, Hailey started rationing its water this week
for lawn watering.
