Diverting water won't hurt a bit

7/8/2004

"Water Wonderland" well describes Michigan and the Great Lakes.

However, it's a wonder to me why people - some legislators and our governors - get excited over selling a few million gallons of water every year.

This quantity of water is hardly a drop in the bucket when one calculates the amount of water that flows through the Niagara International Control Dam, then over the falls or leaves the Niagara River through hydroelectric tunnels.

This water flows out to the ocean every day and has done so for a zillion centuries.

The point is that more than 200,000 cubic feet per second flow out of our four upper Great Lakes.

There are 7.5 gallons of water in a cubic foot so every second 1.5 million gallons of water runs away.

Now if you multiply the above number for 60 seconds in a minute, then 60 minutes in an hour, then 24 hours in a day, and then 365 days in a year, you'll arrive at an impressive number.

Further math using the multipliers of decades, centuries, and millenniums gives a number beyond my ability to read and/or comprehend.

As you finish your math for the day, I'm certain you'll arrive at the same conclusion I've reached:

A million or two gallons of water sold in a year does amount to that "drop in a bucket."

I believe any debate over this matter is much ado about nothing.

DONALD THURBER

LaSalle, Mich.

I had to laugh when I saw The Blade's headline for the story about Saddam Hussein's first court appearance: "Saddam Calls Bush 'Criminal.'●" How instructive. I can only assume that this headline was used because Saddam's view of President Bush is shared by the powers that be at The Blade. Why else would this particular headline be used?

Surely no one thinks it's particularly shocking, unexpected, or newsworthy that Saddam would call Mr. Bush a criminal. If Adolf Hitler had been present at the Nuremberg trials, I doubt that he would have had many kind words for Roosevelt or Truman either.

It seems to me that The Blade was just happy to amplify the comments of someone who agrees with its assessment of Mr. Bush. How long will it be before we see Saddam op-ed pieces on the Pages of Opinion?

Jeff Jankowski

Terrace View North

A recent contributor's letter praising Bishop Leonard Blair's Saturday Essay was very good except there is one correction to be made. The letter stated that a minority of the Catholic Churches' clergy were sinners. In reality, they are all sinners. All mortals are sinners including me. However some of the sins that they committed were also felonies, and that's why we have to keep track.

Jim Malohn

Maumee