Windmills could help pump water from Mississippi River to Colorado

Regarding the letter by Don Siefkes, of San Leandro, "Let's fill Lake Powell in less than a year via Mississippi aqueduct."

As long as we are dreaming up solutions, the aqueduct should be terminated along the Colorado River in Colorado. The pipeline to the Arizona lakes is already in place ... via the Colorado River.

Once the Arizona lakes are full, a lower flow is needed to maintain levels. Excess water can be pumped to near the origin points of the other major rivers in Colorado, e.g. the Platte, the Rio Grande, and the Arkansas.

Power to pump the water could be generated by windmills along the route.

Ross Thacker, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Forget pipelines and aqueducts. We need to conserve!

I came across the opinion piece from Don Siefkes concerning filling Lake Powell with a pipeline from the Mississippi River. Hoo boy. Lots to unpack.

The issue is this does absolutely nothing to solve for drought conditions that will continue to get worse. It is going to get hotter. We need to adjust our water use, or else his plan is nothing more than a bandaid to a gaping wound.

Not to mention building a massive 1,400 mile pipeline across multiple states to flow how much water he thinks is viable per second would cost in the hundreds of billions. And what happens if the East hits a massive drought? What then?

Don’s plan would do nothing to conserve. We have to adjust our water use in the West, but so many people don’t want to hear or act on this until it will be too late.

Ryan Cottrell, South Jordan, Utah

We are destroying this beautiful valley at a rapid pace

We have one of the most ecologically diverse deserts in the world. All creatures large and small live from 235 below sea level at the Salton Sea to 10,834 feet above sea level at Mount San Jacinto.

One of the largest creatures are humans who moved here to enjoy the exceptional beauty and clean desert environment. We are destroying this beautiful valley at a rapid pace — surf parks, warehouses in the heart of our valley are not appropriate, practical, or environmentally healthy.

Interstate-10 on the way to Arizona would be a much better and practical location for warehouses and shipping. Our air quality does not meet AQMD standards. Our council members andcity planners are going to be replaced if their only concern is generating revenue.

We the people care about our desert and planet. Let's reverse this destructive trend.

Kerry Berman, Palm Desert 

Water is about more than lawns, it's about food

Seems there is finally some interest in a water pipeline from flooded places to those sufferig a drought.

Of course water pipelines would not be as lucrative as oil pipelines, but the benefits would more than repay the cost. It is not just a matter of keeping our lawns green, it is a matter of keeping us fed.  If there is no water for the food crops there is no food. And I believe that we can all agree that food is more important than oil.

Yes, we need gasoline to fuel the trucks that distribute the food, but alternate means for powering vehicles are already available.  So far we have not found an alternate for food.

Ruth Lindemann, Palm Springs

Calexit can be expanded to other like-minded places

I read Tom Elias’s commentary regarding Calexit (June 29) with great interest.  We should go further than just California — Hawaii, British Columbia, Oregon and Washington. 

We could have two large countries — one inhabited by people more comfortable with liberal ideology, and one where conservatives can live according to their beliefs. It doesn’t matter if the states border on one another. The voters in each state just have to decide where they want to belong.

Those states that join together can adopt a government system based on their interpretation of the Constitution, how they want their taxes spent, their children to be educated, justice to be served, etc.

I would gladly live in a country where separation of church and state exists, where women, children, immigrants, LGBTQ+ individuals and families do not have to worry that they will be treated as second class citizens, and where the chances of getting shot in a grocery store, school, nightclub, subway or in a road-range incident is significantly less than it is right now.

Shelley Baer, Indio

USC, UCLA move to Big Ten is driven by greed

For piggish over-ambition and mendacity, it would be hard to top USC and UCLA's dumping the Pac-12 conference to join the Big Ten (now up to 16 teams), allegedly in the interest of the "student-athletes" themselves.

The image, of course, is of huge crowds and TV audiences watching football games against Ohio State and Michigan. The more general reality, however, must envision volleyball and cross-country teams flying long hours to Minnesota or Nebraska, then to New Jersey or Washington D.C., and back across country multiple times per season.

The plan works best — or only! — for greed-head administrators plus major-sport players and coaches dissociated entirely from academic life on campus.

Jeff Zorn, Palm Springs

Our border policy is insane

Many Democrats seem to care more about saving humanity from perceived climate change than actually saving human lives here and now. While pushing "green" everything, they ignore the needless "red" blood that's being shed at the southern border because of their weak and inadequate immigration policies that encourage migrants to illegally enter our country.

Just this week, nearly 60 people died horrific deaths while holding false hopes of asylum. At the same time, the Mexican cartels tried smuggling in nearly 4 tons of fentanyl, which could have been responsible for killing millions of Americans. Add human trafficking, and it's a recipe for disaster.

How many more innocent people will die before we actually close the border they claim is closed? How many overdoses of smuggled fentanyl are acceptable before our leaders express outrage? How many children need to be trafficked before leaders admit to themselves they have lost their moral compass by permitting this to happen? Will they feel the pain of the families of those unfortunate souls who have perished as pawns in their need to hold on to their political power?

We all know it's unconscionable! What rationale do they use to relieve their consciences?

Ellan Batavick, La Quinta

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Windmills could help pump water from Mississippi River to Colorado