Dubious about San Luis water plan
Former political personalities frequently take on new life using political skills and contacts to channel public money into personal ventures. Third parties may be left holding the bag of adverse, unintended consequences.
The water proposal appears to be an overpriced, taxpayer-funded boondoggle that may drain critical aquifers in excess of a desirable recharge rate, not mentioned or disclosed. Water rights are private assets that may be bought and sold, but I have a question about the numbers.
Our household is currently allocated 164,000 gallons of water annually for inside and outside usage. An acre-foot of water is 325,851 gallons. So, our annual water budget is about half an acre-foot. For this usage, we are currently charged $672.40, which equates to $1,335.99 per acre-foot.
The article states, “After the initial investment, the purchase price for the water rights would be fixed at $18,500 per annual acre-foot, according to the proposal.” This must have been a misprint and perhaps off by a factor of 10. Why would Douglas County purchase water at over 13 times what residential customers are being charged by a local water district?
Renewable Water Resources (RWR) has a nice ring to it. We are barraged daily with all sorts of undertakings associated with the term “renewable” and misled to believe these sorts of things are at minimal financial cost and minimal physical damage to the environment and local communities. Frequently, this is just a smoke screen for not-so-pretty, real world realities.
Douglass Croot
Highlands Ranch
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