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Greetings!
I hope everything is going great for everyone. Like most or you
our calving season is just getting under way and we had a first
calf of the New Year yesterday it was a bull. It really has been
quite a winter here in North Plains. Record snow, floods, and
our kids received an extra week of vacation to start their
Christmas holiday due to the bad weather. I have just finished
watching a DVD called Liquid Assets produced by Penn State
Public Broadcasting. This DVD is about the story of our
countries ageing water infrastructure.
So one might ask what does this
have to do with the cattle business. With only 2.5 percent of
the water on our planet being suitable for drinking, industrial
and agriculture uses, water is truly one of our nation’s
greatest assets. 80 percent of our countries water is used for
agriculture and industry. Without this source and availability
of water, jobs and industry would have to go else ware. It is
this supply of clean water witch allows our economy to exist.
The average American use 100
gallons of water each day. With over 300 million people in our
country it takes a massive amount of infrastructure to deliver
this much water. It is estimated 2 million miles of pipe carry
water through out America. One of the main problems is a lot of
these systems were put in the early 1900s or before and they are
worn out and need to be replaced. These systems are vital to our
economy, sanitation, public safety, and public health.
With the demand for water on the
increase to support a growing population and economy, here at
work we are developing a new source of water to stay ahead of
the curve. This includes raising a dam 40 feet to store an
additional 23,000 acre feet of water in Scoggins reservoir for
our customers. To deliver this water a 96” diameter pipe will be
constructed to withdrawal water from the reservoir in the
summertime and refill the reservoir in the winter. We will also
have build new water mains to deliver the addition water to the
district and up size the water treatment plant.
As many of us know in the west,
water is one of our most valuable assets. With out it many of
our operation could not exist. When Liquid Assets is shown on
your local public television channel tune in, I’m sure you will
find it interesting and informative.
Look forward to seeing you in Reno!
Troy Van Roekel
WSAA 1st Vice President
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