Desalination works with conservation


Published on Saturday, November 14, 2009 9:02 PM MST



Desalination works with conservation


Living in the high desert provides for many benefits: we’re surrounded by natural beauty, we have a great climate year-round, and an array of outdoor activities and adventures always await us. But living here has at least one serious drawback: It’s very dry. We’re virtually always compelled to consider where our water is coming from.

Granted, we don’t have to go out in our backyards with divining rods to try and find the precious resource. But it does take considerable effort and forethought by our elected officials and government employees. Toward that end, Sandoval County is taking a leadership role in the quest for water — by following through with plans to tap into a brackish aquifer on the Rio Puerco basin west of Rio Rancho. They say there’s enough water for 300,000 people for 100 years.

We applaud this effort. It is innovative, and potentially adds a magnificent addition to our local water resources. But we also contend that a constant and committed effort for conservation must be omnipresent in our community — every day of the year.

After all, even with the promise of a substantial amount of water, the process of making this H2O drinkable remains expensive and dirty. Tests indicate this water contains arsenic and other harmful chemicals that will have to be removed and disposed of somehow, somewhere. And then, there’s the sodium.

Beyond the challenge of decontamination and desalination, we also don’t want to wantonly drain this aquifer simply for the sake of unbridled development. Doing so would leave the county in a tremendous water crisis a century or so down the road — even in a best case scenario.

Therefore, we urge the county and others involved with the desalination plant project to also develop and implement a long-term strategy (including necessary regulations) in order to create a sustainable and lasting water management and conservation ethos throughout Sandoval County.

Copyright © 2010 Rio Rancho Observer

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