Time to bury Auburn Dam's corpse

Re "Auburn dam water rights yanked" (Page A1, Dec. 3): Congratulations to the State Water Resources Control Board for taking this action. Now that a final stake has been driven through the heart of the Auburn dam, it is time to put it in the ground and start piling dirt on the coffin. That metaphor could be accomplished by the Legislature moving quickly to provide wild and scenic river status to the North and Middle Forks of the American River, something that would make future dam construction schemes difficult, if not impossible. It would also be fitting, given that political leaders in Sacramento are moving to have the Legislature enact the governor's stalled water bond proposal within the next 90 to 100 days. That's so new water supply and infrastructure projects, like the peripheral canal, Sites reservoir, Temperance Flat dam and enlarging Shasta Dam, can all get authorized under the guise of providing stimulus to the California economy but subsidized with taxpayer dollars.

– Jeff Shellito, Sacramento

What about future water needs?

Re "Baby, it's dry outside" (Page A1, Dec. 1): California has fixed water capacity of storage and delivery systems, despite how much rain falls. What can be done to ensure adequate supplies of this limited resource in drought years and address the inevitable population increase and water needs in the future?

Take a page from a local irrigation district and NASA. The public may not be ready for "toilet to tap" but eventually we will go there. Instead, we should be embracing the use of recycled water as the El Dorado Irrigation District and the Serrano Development in El Dorado Hills have done.

The El Dorado Irrigation District had a problem, disposing of waste water, and Serrano had a problem with not enough potable water to continue development. These needs created a nationally recognized program of water reuse that has resulted in more than 3,700 residences using recycled water for the irrigation of their front yard and rear yard landscaping.

A typical residence uses more than two-thirds of its potable water for landscaping. Think of the savings that could be found without new storage facilities if all new development was required to use recycled water. Think of the amount of waste water not being dumped into our rivers and streams.

Instead of wasting this resource we should be mandating its use.

– Tom Howard, El Dorado Hills

Let auto industry cope like we did

I worked for the aerospace industry for 10 years and was laid off. No one bailed me out. Fortunately we lived a frugal life and paid our bills and honored all our obligations. Now at 72 I see our 401(k) evaporate and again we are adjusting to this dire financial situation.

Let the free market work; do not bail out the auto industry. The CEOs, unions and employees need to share in the adjustments needed to make the auto industry competitive and efficient.

– Val Koeberlein, Auburn

Overpaid CEOs

I just heard that the CEO of one of the U.S. car manufacturers who wants a bailout got $22 million in salary and compensation last year. That works out to about $60,000 a day (including weekends) or $7,000 an hour if they work an eight-hour day. Why have CEOs who have been failing at their jobs and now are asking for our tax dollars been getting paid $7,000 an hour?

– Ellen Robinson, Sacramento

Big Three's public relations stunt

I couldn't believe it when I saw that the CEOs of the Big Three automakers drove to Washington, D.C., to ask for billions of dollars. Once again I think they missed the point and showed that they were compelled to make a political statement, rather than do what's right.

A quick check of the Internet showed they could have flown non-stop economy class from Detroit to Washington for less than $450.

Don't you think the CEO of a company in as much trouble as they are could spend the nine hours it took to drive more wisely?

It makes me think twice about how serious or capable they are with actually being able to come up with good ideas for a turnaround. In this case, it sure looks like politics and public relations trumped good judgment.