editorial
Nebraska water inland sea?
Dear editor:
I would like to clarify several points made in the Wednesday,
Jan. 15 article on page one of the Daily Nebraskan regarding the
Student Legal Services Center.
First, the article may have left the impression that only women
students have consumer problems with misrepresentations by
salesmen. Actually, home solicitation sales are a big prqblem for
students of both sexes, and china and silverware salesmen in
women's living units are only part of a much larger problem.
Secondly, the article left the impression that our office is quite
concerned about security for client's records. That is correct,
although the article may have overstated the case. The
attorney-client relationship of confidentiality is important, and for
that reason the student files in our office are kept locked and the
access is restricted to SLSC personnel.
Contrary to the impression left by the article, our office has
never encountered problems with the confidentiality of phone
conversations and students should never worry about discussing
sensitive matters in an emergency. Yet a telephone conversation
always entails the possibility, however remote, that someone on
either end of the line, or in between, will innocently and
inadvertently pick up parts of a conversation that the client would
only want the attorney to hear.
However, that is not the main reason our office discourages
phone advice except in cases of emergency. Legal problems are
often much more complex than they appear, and we therefore try
to give every student a full one-half hour personal interview with
an attorney so that every legal aspect of the problem can be
covered. Legal advice by phone, when it is incomplete or hurried,
may be worse than no advice at all.
The SLSC has also had many problems in the past with large
numbers of non-students attempting to receive and phone advice
and this is unfair to the students at the University who pay for the
service through their student fees.
I might also add that there is a SLSC office on East Campus on
Thursday afternoons in Rooms 2 and 3 of the C.I. Thompson
Library. Appointments for that office may be made by calling the
SLSC in the Nebraska Union.
David Rasmussen
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(Editor's note: Rob Aiken is the Environmental
Task Force chairman.)
"Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to
drink," Coleridge would be hard put to apply his
phrase to Nebraska.
Estimates say there is enough underground
water to make Nebraska an inland sea 39 feet
deep. In fact, a few years ago, Loyd K. Fischer,
professor of agricultural economics, said if we
used 3 million acre-feet of water each year our
water would last until the year 2525. That's
without counting the 8 million acre-feet that
recharge the water table each year.
If there's so much water, why are some
farmers hard hit by droughts such as last
summer's? And why did 75 of our 93 counties
lose underground water in 1971?
One reason is the ! ,600 wells registered each
year from 1966 to 1971. Many pivot irrigation
systems are going up and millions of acres are put
into irrigation.
Another reason Fischer mentioned is the
"quirky location" of water. Some farmers can
drill deep and come up with long-lived wells
while others run dry even though they drill at the
same depth..
Evidently our fabled underground water isn't
a simple ocean of sea and sand. It is something
closer to a jumble of lakes and ponds- some deep
and some shallow. Some lakes drain into others.
So the lucky guy that bought land above a deep
lake can irrigate almost endlessly while the fellow
above a shallow water table is stuck with a well
that might run dry in mid-August.
In fact, Fischer said, heavy irrigation in
central Nebraska caused Frenchman Creek to dry
up, the reservoir downstream ran out of water -and
the farmers who irrigated from the reservoir
were out of luck. That might be cause to take the
problem to the courts if the farmers can raise the
cash to meet legal fees.
When farmers in the O'Neill area and folks
' around York see the water table going down as
much as 25 to 50 feet, they contemplate
damming the Niobrara River (a great place for
canoeing) and the Platte River-where we see the
Sandhill Cranes each spring.
That's fine if you don't mind flooding more
farmland and spending lots of tax money on
construction. But it doesn't make sense if
something else can be done.
Fischer said, people in Cow Valley, Ore., had
the same problem of falling water tables and got
out of the mess by keeping a closer watch on the
water pumped out of the supply. It makes sense.
If 1 ,000 acre-feet of water flow into an aquifer (a
water-bearing rock or rock formation), 1,000
acre-feet can be pumped out without lowering
the water table. But if somebody gets excited
and pumps out 2,000 acre-feet, the water table
has to fall and eventually the wells will run
dry-which is just what's been happening here.
Dry wells shouldn't surprise anyone because
we've been managing our underground water to
make the wells run dry.
There's a bill in the Legislature to regulate
water use so all Nebraskans will have enough
water.
Of course, Nebraska farmers are interested in
this sort of tiling but we shouldn't expect
irrigators to readily submit to regulation. They've
spent lots of money buying irrigation systems
and it's doubtful they'll cut back if it costs them
some money-even if they would pump the
aquifers dry. Dry wells last summer testify to
that. Any compromise will have to be worked
out in the Legislature.
This Saturday at 9 a.m., the Nebraska Wildlife
Federation is sponsoring a Water-Use workshop
at the Yancey Hotel in Grand Island. Many
farmers and some agriculture students are bound
to be there, and it should be interesting. Water
seems to be everywhere but its abundance can't
make up for mismanagement.
BRIDAL FORUM
RADIO STATION KFOR
And their Co-Sponsors invite
All Prospective Brides
to attend the KFOR BRIDAL FORUM
On Wednesday the 29th of January
nineteen hundred and seventy-five
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at
Pershing Auditorium
Register for your free invitation at:
Ben Simons Fashion Departments
Downtown and Gateway
Baker Hardware
Downtown & Gateway
Hospe's Mr. Music
Downtown & Gateway
Tyrrells Flowers and
House of Originals
1133 North Cotner
Lincoln Tour and Travel
Downtown and Gateway
Sheraton Inn
Airport
Massachusetts Mutual
Life Insurance
1050 Stuart Buildung
Canned Ego Salons
Ben Simons
Downtown and Gateway
Coordinated Bath Fashions
032 N. 27
Lincoln Electric System
1401 "O" Street
Taylor Rental Center
. 4820 Rentworth
Boomer's Printing
1 21 2,:0" Street
Townsend Studios
2221 Sheridan Blvd.
Chateau LeFleur And
Charleston Court Apartments
and Townhouses
1025 North 63rd Street
Donut Stop Bakery
27th and 0 Streets
Sartor-Hamann Jewelry
Downtown and Gateway
Discount Draperies
432 So. 11th
Land & Sky
1325 0 St
J
page 5,
friday, January 17, 1975
daily nebraskan