For the love of region's water

I recently had the privilege of being afforded a tour of Sandpoint’s Little Sand Creek Water Treatment Plant which provides water to Sandpoint, Ponderay, Kootenai, Dover, and other parts of Bonner County.

It was enlightening to discover how much diligent effort goes into treating and piping some of the best water in the world (if you disagree then travel around the country first) to us. I would personally like to thank David Pafundi, Dave Spinney, and Chris Wood, the sole three employees, for taking the time to give us a tour and for monitoring both the water treatment plants 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to ensure our uninterrupted supply of clean water.

In many ways our water wealth can lull us into a degree of complacency regarding water issues. The upcoming vote on the $20.5 million bond for upgrades to the lake treatment plant should, however, serve as a wake up call. Water issues are only going to become more and more pressing. It’s easy to blame developers but conservatism would suggest that one might forgo a lush green lawn in favor of saving water. The more we depend on water from the lake the more we become susceptible to upstream contamination. Folks like the Rock Creek Alliance have recognized this for years and I think it’s time the rest of us to take action to conserve and protect our water resources. A couple of excellent resources on water issues are the documentary “Flow: For the Love of Water”, and “Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water” by Maude Barlow.

Stephen Augustine

Sandpoint