To the editor:

PDR is about preserving water

March 21, 2007

It is a fact that Washington County’s rapid growth is affecting our water supply. Here are some undisputed facts:

1. Slinger residents are experiencing first hand the cost of rapid growth with a stormwater user fee. The insert provided with the February utility bill justifies the fee by stating land that previously would have absorbed runoff now has parking lots, roofs, streets and other hard surfaces. During rainstorms, water from these surfaces cause storm sewer system damage, frequent flooding, erosion,and degradation of water quality.

2. A recent Daily News article reports West Bend’s Department of Public Works plans to go exploring for possible new municipal water well sites in the next few weeks, something it has not had to do for the past 30 years.

3. Germantown is now drilling to the 1,200-foot level for water and finding it contaminated.

4. The Allenton Sanitary District is experiencing some problems with its well water.

5. Waukesha County is looking for alternative water sources because it no longer has good water available. Waukesha also draws from Washington County’s deep aquifer.

Preserving farmlands with a PDR program allows water to replenish our water recharge areas. Quality water is a benefit to everyone in our county.

PDR is about cost savings. If we don’t take steps to preserve our water, what is the cost of importing good water?

For comparison, Brown County is running 65 miles of pipeline to Manitowoc to supply water to seven of its communities. The projected pipeline cost will go as high as $140 million. Once completed each household has to hook up to the pipeline at an extra cost to the individual taxpayer. The estimated cost to use this water for the first year is $4.5 million.

The $800,000 annual payment for PDR compared to $140 million pales in comparison.

We either pay a little now to preserve our water and way of life or pay a lot later to have clean water. Either way it will come from tax dollars.

Rick Gundrum
Washington County Supervisor
District 16 -Slinger

 

Keep the country air

We need to protect our farmlands in Washington County. Let’s not follow in the footsteps of our predecessors, but make a new way for our children.

I have gone to Milwaukee many times with my mom, who grew up there. She would tell me how everyone was really close in the neighborhood; that there was a feeling of love from the community. In fact, a man came to visit us from their old neighborhood.

There was lots of open land that they could play on. She recalls that the city workers would come and cut the grass of an old farmer’s field next door, and she can remember the sweet smell of freshly cut grass. She would run through the field barefoot and the grass would prick her feet. Now the only thing you can smell is smokestacks, gasoline and the smell of asphalt. Where her house use to be is now just stores.

When I have children of my own, I don’t want to have to come back to Washington County and say, "Look, that’s where I use to live, but now it’s just a shopping mall." I don’t want to have to recall the farm fields and the fresh smells. I want it to be here when I grow old.

If you are like me and don’t want Washington County to become just another suburb of Milwaukee, vote yes on April 3 to preserve farmlands. Save the farmlands so our children can run barefoot through grass and be able to smell freshly cut hay like my mother did when she was young.

Katie Moder
Jackson