We must reduce our water consumption

To the editor:

Thank heavens for Assemblyman Joe Hogan’s advocacy of conservation pricing of water for Las Vegas (Review-Journal, Aug. 12). Conservation pricing is just the first, most urgent of the many steps we should be taking to reduce our wasteful consumption of water.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority is on the verge of spending billions of our dollars to import groundwater from rural Nevada. Doing so will impose hardship on every one of our rural neighbors, destroying livelihoods for some; drastically change much of the native vegetation; reduce spring flows, wetlands and recreational opportunities; and reduce or exterminate more than 150 species dependent on those wetlands.

Is our stewardship of the creation and concern for our neighbors so callous and negligent that we don’t feel an obligation to implement conservation pricing plus a full range of presently available water-use efficiency technologies, regulations and requirements?

Jim Deacon

HENDERSON

Salt water

To the editor:

I read with disappointment the commentary from Joseph Hogan, the Democratic assemblyman, regarding necessary future options for Lake Mead. But I agree with him that a solution other than drilling and pumping water from Northern Nevada must be found.

Current inflow to the lake will not keep up with current usage levels, much less future growth in the Las Vegas Valley. Future projections of a doubling of our current population will put Las Vegas at 3 million to 4 million people by 2030. In addition, there will be increased demand in Arizona and California. This will surely outpace any supply of groundwater pumped into the city.

I applaud Mr. Hogan for calling for action, but the usual Democratic mantra of “conserve- conserve-conserve” and taxing increased usage is woefully shortsighted and fatally flawed. The amount of money spent to drill and lay pipelines would be better spent building a desalinization plant on the California coast to pipe water here from an inexhaustible supply called the Pacific Ocean. True, desalinization is a bit more costly than normal water purification processes, but it beats looking at a dry lake bed east of Hoover Dam.

Surely the American ingenuity and “can-do” attitude that built the dam could tackle a project like this. This is an issue that Nevadans of all political stripes can agree upon.

Tracy Jordan

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Animal control

To the editor:

Now that heads are starting to roll at Lied Animal Shelter and an investigation will be launched to further clean house, animal rights groups can pat themselves on the back for a job well done. Their greatest success was in sensationalizing the failings of the shelter at the expense of focusing on the real problem: our community’s inability and unwillingness to learn how to implement a successful animal control program.

The Animal Foundation, by agreeing to be the shelter contracting with local government entities, is required to accept every single animal that comes through its doors (no other valley shelter has such a requirement). At the same time, the public criticizes and is appalled by any shelter that regularly and systematically euthanizes animals by the thousands.

In its attempt to walk the tightrope between its contractual agreements and being the “no-kill shelter” that the public wanted to believe it was (a perception necessary to ensure continued donations to maintain operations), Lied created for itself a no-win situation.

Where are the efforts of the animal rights groups when it comes to demanding the public step up to the plate and start acting to decrease the numbers of arrivals at the shelter in the first place? It takes much, much more than a catchy spay-and-neuter campaign or a pet-of-the-week adoption plea, as is evidenced by the 500-plus puppies for sale in the classifieds on any given day, or the hundreds of animals that continue to show up at Lied’s front door.

Teresa Owens

LAS VEGAS

Nice job

To the editor:

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Wednesday’s front page article by reporters Brian Haynes and David Kihara (“Boyd to pay fine”) was excellent journalism. The article was presented with not only pictures of those involved, but with graphics as well. Nice touch.

Although the article is self-explanatory — a tragic story of loss of life, bravery, fines — the reporters should not go unmentioned. They deserve praise.

Good job, guys. Looking forward to your future articles.

Jim O’Gara

LAS VEGAS