Water conservation is a joke. Really.

Why aren’t the people who are in charge of new development using some of that money they collect from the public every time we pay our water bill?

If you look at your bill closely, you will see that they add charges to your bill just to repair the water pipes. Over 10 percent of our water is wasted because of leaks in the pipes. So if the water company wants the public to conserve water, you would think they would do it as well.

Some of the money that they get from the government is for new projects.

The money is there, there’s no reason for us to be in a drought other than someone putting money in his or her pocket.

The part that is really disturbing, is that we have been in a drought for over five years and they wait until the reservoir is at 17 percent before the water company says that it is the lowest it has ever been, and now that summer is coming, they want to do something. Really, and what they are thinking about doing, trucking in snow or ice from somewhere else? Wow.

We have the largest coastline of any state, so we have easy access to the ocean.

Almost all of the Middle Eastern countries have desalting units which take the salt out of the ocean water to make it drinkable.

And guess what? Their water is a whole lot better to drink than ours is.

That’s why most people don’t drink water from their faucet, it’s not good for you.

Maybe we can learn something from the Middle East, and maybe if the government stepped in it might help.

Water is something we need every day to live. It’s a shame that someone is in charge of our water and has self-interest instead of the public’s interest in mind.