A reliable water supply is necessary

Rarely do things stay the same. They either get better or they get worse. The reliability of our water supply is getting worse and something needs to be done, something other than telling us to use less and less. There is no good end game for that approach.

The idea that we are again facing more draconian water restrictions is a result of politicians refusing to focus on the problem. A reliable water supply is directly related to the health, safety, and welfare of the constituents they have pledged to serve.

Billions of gallons of water flow unnecessarily every year into the ocean because we do not have enough facilities to capture water during wet years, when water is plentiful, and save water for dry years, when water is scarce. A reliable water supply is necessary for us to have food, necessary for public health and sanitation, necessary for fire suppression, and simply necessary for humans to stay alive. It is difficult to overstate the urgency of this problem.

Once again, we will be asked to curtail outdoor irrigation, fallow ground and grow less food, compromise personal hygiene by taking fewer and shorter showers, and urinate into toilets we don’t flush.

Water falls out of the sky for free. Please urge California’s elected officials to give water supply a high priority and construct more facilities to capture and save this water. One may disagree and have other, higher priorities. However, when you are asked to drink less water when you are thirsty, it will be too late.

Steven Smith