Columbia River could help region

By Terry Adamik, Henderson

Friday, Sept. 12, 2014 | 2:02 a.m.

The drought in Western states is arguably the worst threat our country currently faces. We need to take action!

A second potential catastrophe near the Hanford nuclear waste facility in Washington, is also silently threatening us, as uncontained nuclear waste continues to seep ever closer to the Columbia River.

Some workers involved in efforts to clean up the site have suffered from radiation poisoning.

According to the Center for Columbia River History, an average of 160 million acre-feet of water flows to the Pacific Ocean each year.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that in 2010, California withdrew 42 million acre-feet of water from groundwater and surface-water sources.

That about a quarter of the water that flows through the Columbia River and into the Pacific Ocean every year!

Why not divert water (in all or in part) from the Columbia River into the California water system before it gets contaminated? California could then voluntarily agree to discontinue drawing water from the Colorado River system.

The six other states that get most of their water from that system (Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico), along with Mexico would likely then have enough water for the coming years.

It might also allow all of the reservoirs in that system to fill, even in the absence of rain.

Get busy engineers! This is an opportunity!