• Originally published June 25, 2009 at 5:45 p.m., updated June 25, 2009 at 5:50 p.m.

Thank you Victoria Advocate for running the article entitled, "Guadalupe River Reaches Critical Level," published on June 22. Unfortunately, the headline of this article speaks volumes about the water challenges we face.

Residents of the Guadalupe River Basin are looking head-on at a serious water shortage - even without the proposed Exelon nuclear power plant.

The city of Victoria is currently scrambling to find enough water to fulfill the needs of its citizens. There is scarcely enough water to meet the current needs, especially during a drought. As much as voluntary conservation is always a good practice, the Guadalupe is proving to us right now that Mother Nature overrides state-issued water rights. Future municipal and industrial water uses combined with climate change will only amplify this problem.

To the current problem, citizens of the Victoria area must add the water use of the proposed Exelon nuclear power plant. If that project proceeds, those water rights will have senior status to the city's, placing the city in a position where it will continually be searching for alternatives to river water. Essentially, drought conditions will

become a way of life, even when the flows are higher than they are now.

We have heard time and again about how important the nuclear power plant is to the economic growth of Victoria. But these arguments seem woefully shortsighted when faced with the current water shortage that demonstrates this is not the place to put a water-intensive industry like nuclear power.

Our current way of life is at issue on the coast. Our water recreation, our current settlement patterns, our fisheries and even the whooping cranes are at risk. By acting as a water merchant and not a conservation authority, Guadalupe Blanco River Authority (GBRA) is mismanaging this precious resource and failing as a steward of our precious water.

How can the GBRA and Exelon continue to believe that there is enough water to remove 75,000 acre-feet (24 billion gallons) of water annually from the Guadalupe River and still expect that there will be enough for the current residents and businesses?

Can the citizens in Victoria really afford a nuclear power plant that drains it of one of its most vital and scarce resources?

This debate over the proposed nuclear power plant is not simply about irrational fears of nuclear technology.

This debate is about the basic survival of the Guadalupe River and all that depend on it from the Hill Country to the San Antonio Bay.

This issue is critical to survival on the Texas coastal plain.

All citizens concerned about the river and its value to all should ask hard questions and demand answers from our community leaders, GBRA and Exelon.

We have a right to know exactly what they think will happen when even more demands are exerted on the river.

You don't miss your water until your river runs dry.

Well folks, with the river running at less than 10 percent of its normal flow, do you still believe there is enough water for Exelon?

Jim Blackburn is an environmental attorney for Texans for a Sound Energy Policy Alliance at SpeakUpVictoria.com.

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