Here we go again.

On Monday, Salina city commissioners voted 5-0 to spend up to $239,000 of taxpayers' money on yet another consultant to tell us something. This time, the subject is water.

This time, for a variety of reasons, it appears to be money well spent.

The reason is the city will be looking at more than whether we have the water to make it through another hot summer. This study, to be done by HDR Engineering, a Nebraska-based firm, will look at securing water sources for the next 50 years.

If that's all the study did, it would be worth it. Salina got a scare in 2006 when the Smoky Hill River went mostly dry, water level plummeted at Kanopolis Lake -- which releases water into the Smoky upstream from Salina -- and the city was put on water restrictions.

But the study promises more, according to Martha Tasker, the city's director of utilities.

A close second in importance to finding new sources of water, Tasker says, is water conservation and effluent use. If Salinans can reduce the amount of water they use and the city can reuse effluent, then that means less pressure on finding new sources of water.

The effluent, which is treated water from the city's wastewater plant, could be used for such things as watering the parks. The water is safe, just not up to drinking standards.

But, why can't the city do this on its own, or at least give the work to a local firm?

The short answer is the city doesn't have time, Tasker says: There are 1,800 engineering hours proposed for the project. Secondly, the city isn't about giving contracts to anyone. It sent out requests for proposals to 13 firms, got back seven proposals, interviewed three firms, and from that selected HDR.

If you do the water math, here's what Salina faces: Diminishing water supply plus increasing population equals trouble. Something has to give, or we face an endless repeat of the summer of 2006.

-- Ben Wearing, Executive Editor

and member of the Journal's Editorial Board

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