Letter: A succession of bad decisions on climate

I was interested in the lack of logic used in the recent story about the water level of Lake Meade and the recent opinion by James Cook to run a canal from the Great Lakes to the Colorado Basin to fill their tub, so to speak.

A little history will tell a lot about both. First, in the 1960s, a desalination plant was built in Southern California to add more water to the needed populations of California and Nevada. A few mild winters in the mountains had reduced water drain into Lake Meade. But a few years later after all was back to normal levels, the state of California decided they didn't need the expense to maintain the plant and sold it to Mexico. Bad Decision One.

As the populations of California and Nevada grew and put more pressure on the water resources, the issue again surfaced. The populations have increased threefold since then, not including tourists, which amount to 40 million a year in Las Vegas alone. This has caused virtually all the hotels in Las Vegas to recycle sewage back into not-so-fresh water. Bad Decision Two.

And now and read carefully, a new desalination plant started 22 Years ago in Southern California has still not been approved, as the eco-band think it might have a bad effect on marine life. Bad Decision Three.

In summary, we don't need a canal from the Great Lakes to the west coast to supply fresh water. All we need are people who use common sense and the global solutions already in practice around the world.

Richard Francke

Bartlett