01-09-2023, 06:32 PM
The above just shows why it is so difficult to find solutions for some problems. The "environmental community" (whatever that is. If I am both an avid hunter and fisherman, but support a healthy GSL, does that somehow lump me or anyone similar into the "environmentalist" moniker? I think not!) points fingers at farmers, farmers point fingers at environmental and governmental folks, golf course superintendents point fingers at farmers, etc, etc. Everyone is already doing supposedly everything they can and no one wants to take substantive responsibility or do more than they're already doing. No wonder the Colorado River is such as mess. Upper states pointing at lower states and vice versa, Indians caught in the middle and still the flows go down and no substantive solutions are agreed upon to actually fix the problem.
I would take an all-inclusive approach. Water law needs to be changed to allow flow into the GSL as a beneficial use, farmers should continue to be required to shift away from water intensive crops and use best technology, the public should have to foot its share of the burden that farmers face, front lawns and park strips should be banned on all new construction and requirements to phase out existing front lawns and park strips implemented, low flow plumbing should be mandatory on all new construction and phased requirements for existing fixtures should be i.emented, maybe there shouldn't be as many golf courses in a desert state and what courses there are must find ways to conserve water, etc. THEN, when all those water savings are accumulated, there should be requirements that those savings must be deposited into the bank...er GSL and not just go to the next development project.
Utah's population was less than 1.5 million in 1980. In 43 years, it has gone to 3.68 million. What worked in 1980 doesn't fly now. Hoping that we get more moisture is nice, and I have no doubt that things will change cyclically at some point, but when, to use a metaphor, someone is on life support, the last thing you do if you want them to have a chance at survival before they are recovered enough, is to take them off. The GSL is on borrowed time at the present. I don't want to look back in 30 years and know that I could have done something to stop it instead of just "hoping" for someone or something else to stabilize it.
If you want to look at a wonderful case study of over allocation of a body of water and it's after effects, take a look at what's happened to the Aral Sea in Asia. That is what waits for us if we don't all start pulling together to fix the problem.
I would take an all-inclusive approach. Water law needs to be changed to allow flow into the GSL as a beneficial use, farmers should continue to be required to shift away from water intensive crops and use best technology, the public should have to foot its share of the burden that farmers face, front lawns and park strips should be banned on all new construction and requirements to phase out existing front lawns and park strips implemented, low flow plumbing should be mandatory on all new construction and phased requirements for existing fixtures should be i.emented, maybe there shouldn't be as many golf courses in a desert state and what courses there are must find ways to conserve water, etc. THEN, when all those water savings are accumulated, there should be requirements that those savings must be deposited into the bank...er GSL and not just go to the next development project.
Utah's population was less than 1.5 million in 1980. In 43 years, it has gone to 3.68 million. What worked in 1980 doesn't fly now. Hoping that we get more moisture is nice, and I have no doubt that things will change cyclically at some point, but when, to use a metaphor, someone is on life support, the last thing you do if you want them to have a chance at survival before they are recovered enough, is to take them off. The GSL is on borrowed time at the present. I don't want to look back in 30 years and know that I could have done something to stop it instead of just "hoping" for someone or something else to stabilize it.
If you want to look at a wonderful case study of over allocation of a body of water and it's after effects, take a look at what's happened to the Aral Sea in Asia. That is what waits for us if we don't all start pulling together to fix the problem.