Letter: Water storage issues have been studied

According to last week’s Herald Times, the Yellow Jacket Water Conservation District members met with district taxpayers to discuss water storage for uses such as oil shale development.
Water storage above ground has created the following issues:
A) High cost of reservoir projects.
B) Filling of reservoir with sediment.
C) Loss of water through evaporation (5 feet per year) and reservoir leakage.
D) Greatly diminished flow to the White River.
Storage below ground already takes place. Meeker’s water wells provide water from an aquifer recharged by the White River.
USGS studies were completed years ago and the information has been available to the public and the Yellow Jacket Water Conservation District members. These studies were paid for by taxpayers. I have supervised the drilling of about 30,000 feet of test holes in the Piceance Basin for geohydrologic information. I have never been contacted about information regarding these studies.
Frank Welder
Meeker