Mandatory Saving Water Restrictions

It is somewhat discouraging to read The Times’ continuing and uncritical endorsement of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley’s call for mandatory water conservation (editorial, “Water Conservation: For Farmers . . . And for All Angelenos, As Well,” June 25). Is no one taking the time to try to think through our alleged “water shortage” situation? Spend a few moments to reflect about the nature of our situation, and two facts should become apparent.

One, it is impossible to waste water. “Water conservation” is a misnomer. Unlike other finite resources (oil, natural gas, and coal), water cannot be destroyed. Every drop we use is eventually recycled through our sewers, aquifers, wells, streams, lakes, oceans, and atmosphere. It is all returned to us for our use over and over again. We may pollute it, poison it, or purify it--but we can never destroy it.

Two, therefore, every drop of water we “conserve” is not really saved: It is diverted for some other purpose. By using less water, all we are doing is encouraging the politicians, developers and land speculators to squeeze in even more people in this fragile coastal desert we have already overpopulated. The problem is not too little water: The problem is too many people.

By “conserving” our dwindling water supplies, we are only postponing the inevitable day when we have to face the fact that we cannot continue to grow forever. Someday we must accept the fact that our political planning process has been a cruel deception for decades.

DONALD N. WOOD

Calabassas