The irony in the cost of water in Durango being raised so high people in Durango can’t use the water (Herald, Aug. 2) is tremendous.
The price increases are not for anybody presently using Durango water; the city has sufficient water rights and infrastructure to ensure residents of water in the driest of times and in perpetuity. The rate increases are for future water users. And the boondoggle Animas La Plata Project of course.
Durango is investing in a very expensive Rube Goldberg plan to put that ALP water to use. The irony being that Durango was the only customer ever considered who could actually pay the enormous cost of the ALP water, and yet the Bureau of Reclamation failed to engineer any delivery system to their only legitimate customer.
Additionally, the Durango City Council is investing in urban sprawl because the only way Durango can pay for that water is with a population of more than 40,000 people. All of which is resulting in extremely “Dumb Growth” and forcing any Durango residents of modest means out of the city.
The crowning irony being that by raising water rates so high to pay for the ALP, the city is making Durango browner, not greener.
Michael Black
Durango
