Uprising makes city's south water option look better

Because of the uprising of opposition which has arisen in Frontier County, the McCook City Council needs to rethink how it's going about the search for a safe and plentiful water supply.

What is needed -- as quickly as possible -- is a change in the council's priorities. Instead of just looking to the north for water, the council needs to first see if there is any way the city's south well field can be supplemented by the drilling of additional wells. The object of this search would be to find wells with lower nitrate readings. If that can be successfully done, McCook can buy some very needed time in the campaign to comply with federal nitrate limitations.

This is the program advocated by the Concerned Citizens group, now represented by Jack Lytle, McCook's former Director of Public Works; Dr. Richard Bair, a retired veterinarian; and Keith Arterburn, who has had a long career in land and water management.

"All along, it's been our belief that McCook should adopt a 'go slow' approach," Arterburn said. In order to accomplish that, the first step is to bring McCook into compliance with the nitrate limitation. The reason this is necessary is because the nitrate rule is the first to go into effect.

Down the line, other water quality limitations will come into effect, including ones for the maximum amounts of arsenic and uranium allowed in drinking water supplies. The position of the Concerned Citizens is that since those limits will not go into effect until future years, the council needs time to consider other options ... such as blending and treatment.

When you look at the council's present makeup, agreement on a "go slow" approach (looking south first and north second) may not be that much of a stretch. Council members Phil Lyons and Jim Kenny have already expressed their opposition to the engineering contract for the north well study. All that would be required to give first consideration to the south water supply would be for one of the remaining council members -- either Jerry Reitz, Dick Trail or Mayor Jerda Garey -- to join Lyons and Kenny in a motion to that effect.

This should be to Lyons' liking because he has long been an advocate of treatment. If drilling of wells 14 miles to the north could be avoided, a greater amount of money would be available later to pursue the treatment approach.

Making the south well field option even more urgent is the news that McCook now has the highest property tax levy in the state for cities in the 5,000 to 100,000 population category.

Ouch! As we have known all along, the city needs to take advantage of every opportunity to save money. Looking south first, and going slow, would be the first, and, we believe, most prudent step in that process.