Capital Press

Letter To the Editor

February 11, 2011

A human water rights conference recently held at Willamette University had this statement on its website: "...in the face of increasing water scarcity, we should change our laws to assure clean water for everyone." This stupidity about water quantity and quality never ends because too many people are making lots of money with this so-called water rights conflict.

There doesn't have to be any conflict if the leaders and lawmakers would wake up! Who hasn't heard the news recently about the flooding of the Sandy River with a road and bridge washout?

Who hasn't heard about the abundant snowpack around Mt. Hood and throughout the Cascades and other mountain ranges this year?

Is there an abundance of clean water available? Sure! Do we capture it and utilize it for human benefits? Hardly a trickle!

When will we develop a short- and long-range plan to create wealth for our state by creating water storage facilities that will have a multitude of benefits?

If anyone would simply go to "Google Earth" and take a close look at the areas around Mt. Hood and other mountain ranges throughout the state, it is nearly impossible to find reservoirs, yet there are tens of thousands of ideal locations for them. Unfortunately, too many conflict industry people do not want to allow sensible solutions and progress to take place. They use the courts with threatened and endangered species laws to stop common-sense projects that would produce jobs, enhance recreation, increase summertime stream flows and assure an abundance of safe clean water for domestic uses.

Most of today's economic problems have been created from our own craziness about how we underutilize our natural resources. Because of the economic crisis, isn't it time to bring back sanity and common sense?

Glen Stonebrink

Rickreall, Ore.