If milk doesn’t come from the grocery store…
Many people chuckle when someone quips that milk doesn’t come from the grocery store. I first heard that wisecrack when I was a kid. And I still hear it today, many decades later. And I’ve also heard there are some, even this day, that don’t understand where milk comes from. Imagine that!
Does water come from your faucet?
But if I were to tell you that your water doesn’t come from your faucet will you again chuckle? Or will you pause and think for a moment? Hmmm…I guess I’ve never really thought about it…let me see.
Hmmm…
For many citizens in Wyoming, the water that flows from your faucet begins its journey in a mountain range water tower near you.
How one Wyoming city links three mountain range water towers so its citizens can make ice cubes…take a bath…water their lawn…
Cheyenne, Wyoming obtains much of its water from streams and reservoirs in the higher elevations of the Sierra Madre and Snowy Ranges – which are many miles away – as well as the Laramie Range – directly west of town. Hog Park Reservoir for example, a critical part of the city’s water delivery system, is a 150 mile drive, first over the Laramie Range, then over the Snowy Range, then well into the Sierra Madre Range. Think about that.
Cheyenne’s public water supply is an incredibly complex system of engineering works and water rights negotiations that has evolved over time as the community grows. I’m sure after watching the video, viewable at the link in the previous sentence, you’ll have a much better understanding of its complexity. Cheyenne’s system is a classic example of large-scale trans-basin diversions throughout water towers in the West.
And Cheyenne isn’t the only complex water delivery system…
As another example, Wyoming communities Cody, Powell, Lovell, Garland, Frannie, and Deaver, as well as many rural areas in between, obtain their water from Buffalo Bill Reservoir, which is filled by the North and South Fork Shoshone River watersheds. These two watersheds are predominately YOUR public lands and are managed by the Shoshone National Forest. Water from the reservoir is also used for agriculture and industry, as well as hydropower generation.
The Bighorn Mountains are yet another very important Wyoming Water Tower. This mountain range is in north-central Wyoming and separates the Bighorn and Powder River basins. Annual snowpack in these mountains, which are mostly public lands managed by the Bighorn National Forest provide a full suite of ecosystem services, such as irrigation water for farms and ranches, drinking water for numerous towns and cities, and industrial water for oil and gas development.
Pause and reflect the next time you turn on your faucet…
So the next time you grab a glass of water, or make a cup of coffee, or use water for any other purpose, give some thought as to where it came from, what it took to get that water from there to you, and just how important YOUR public lands are to providing this most basic natural resource. A natural resource you cannot do without…
Until next time, share my blog and website across your social media. Drop me a comment too. I’d love to hear from you.