Horsefeathers ............

[lurker]

Ill-informed commentary from the HutchNews' editor:

No horse sense

SW Kansas lake wasteful of tax dollars and water

It isn't horses being stolen to build a recreational lake in arid western Kansas. It is water - and the wallets of taxpayers.

If it is not risky and seemingly foolish enough to build a lake somewhere facing a serious water shortage, it is getting costlier to build this lake. And builders think it is OK to spend more money without going back to voters who approved the original concept.

The Pawnee Watershed District last week unanimously voted to proceed with HorseThief Reservoir west of Jetmore even though it is estimated to cost an additional $4.5 million above the $15.3 million envisioned when conceived.

Voters in a four-county area benefit district approved a 0.15-percent sales tax for 12 years to finance the project. Since the sales tax generated more revenue than expected in the first year, the project still might be accomplished with 12 years of sales tax collections.

But that seems to be a big "if."

If not, it will take a couple more years on the sales tax to take care of it. That apparently seemed like not a big deal to the district board. But it should have been enough of a change in game plan for this matter to go back to voters.

Instead, apparently lacking much opposition, the district will proceed to put the project to bid.

Backers of the lake project likely are anxious to get going. But it is human nature for those focused narrowly on a goal - in this case, building a recreational lake for southwest Kansas - to suffer from the inability to recognize problems with their plan. That is dangerous.

We know it will cost taxpayers. And despite all the engineering, one has to question whether HorseThief even will fill, let alone be sustained. One needs to look no farther than northwest Kansas lakes to find examples of lakes that struggle to stay even partially full during dry spells.

But we in Kansas seem never to let the minor condition of not enough water stop us from pursuing water-intensive activities.

Creating more recreational opportunities is a worthy endeavor for southwest Kansas. But it does not take a new lake to have camping and hiking. Most of Kansas' state parks are connected to lakes, so we seem to have a mentality that a lake must be involved.

But at some point we need to evaluate whether water skiing is something compatible with the climate in western Kansas.

And how much we should pay to try to accomplish it.

HorseThief Reservoir is a grand vision, but somebody needs to step back and evaluate it with some common sense. It is too water-wasteful and too expensive.

04/03/2007; 03:27:18 AM

For the record, the cost over-runs are perpetuated by constant modification demands from bureaucrats that are too numerous to mention as rebuttal to the above quoted trash.