Dear Editor,
I have been following, as best I can, the issue of the AI power centers projected for Mohave County, and the many complications to be seen therein. I am told that the power requirement number is astounding. These facilities are said to be totally self-sufficient, with physically small power generators producing monstrous amounts of power, within the compound of each center. Being the primitive that I am, I can hardly grasp the power output required. These AI power centers are just one face of the overuse of our County’s limited water supply.
What I can grasp is, the generation of power creates heat which must be gotten rid of. The more power and heat created, the greater the immediate and pressing need for the means to dissipate that by-product. Since we do not live in a cool climate, air cooling does not appear to be the answer. We have no rivers or lakes from which to draw cooling water, so the only source available is wells drilled into our very limited groundwater aquifers.
There are those prosperity hustlers and their representatives who blithely state “Don’t worry, there is plenty of water down there.” Having been involved in water availability issues and the politics thereof for more than a quarter century, there are a few things about which I am absolutely certain when it comes to Mohave County’s water.
#1. There is zero (repeat, ZERO) surface water replenishing the aquifers beneath our feet in our County. What little precipitation we get, is either quickly evaporated or it rapidly runs off down our many dry washes and ends up feeding the Colorado River and even that is rare.
#2. Cities, Ranchers, Stand- alone homes, Farmers, Mines and Industrial users have been freely using the groundwater since “civilization” began impacting this area.
#3. Added to the foregoing, our beloved Mohave County is now burdened with Corporate farms, which are casually drilling huge wells with huge pumps and withdrawing awesome amounts of water for the commercial production of crops intended for sale or use outside our county. You might ask, how much, if any, money or benefit is being returned to our County government and the taxpaying citizenry?
#4. Many of the development hustlers claim we have adequate water. I would like to see some real proof of that. Sure, it is easy to measure down to the top of the aquifer and make some wild guess based on that alone. But, no one has yet actually measured the depth of water available beneath us. Planning based on guesswork and greed is stupid and dangerous.
I am not anti-development, but as sure as God made this Earth, I am adamantly opposed to the gross overdrafting of our aquifers and the eventual certainty that we will, at some not-too-distant point, be altogether without water for drinking, cooking, and sanitation.
Jack Hommel
