LETTER: Infrastructure bill must deal with Southwest and water shortages

How wonderful it is to hear our federal representatives tout the great job they are doing in Washington working on bills that do nothing to address the most devastating issue facing the American Southwest: water — or the lack thereof.

Increasing the water supply to the Southwest should be the No. 1 priority of any infrastructure bill. The billions for highways, bridges and ports — along with all the other pork projects the current administration wants — need to be set aside until the issue of adequate water supply is addressed. If not, we may see tumbleweeds rolling along Interstate 15 and down the Strip. But at least the highways will be spectacular.

We seem to be able to utilize massive pipelines to move all types of fossil fuels, but we can’t come up with a plan to transport water from one area to another? We can bore tunnels under Las Vegas, but we can’t come up with a plan to utilize technology like that to tap into oceans that make up 70 percent of the Earth’s surface? We can develop vaccines in record time but can’t come up with the technology to efficiently build large desalination plants?

Water is the key to human existence. We have foolishly turned the desert into an oasis by over-using the most important ingredient that life demands. Putting the issue into the simplest terms: Mother Nature wants her desert back.