"John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, flew to eastern Colorado in 1962 to celebrate a pipeline project, already 30 years in the planning, that he promised would bring clean water to farm towns whose groundwater was contaminated with salt and radiation. It was never completed. Many people in the area still cannot drink from the tap safely. And now the 47th president, Donald J. Trump, has left many wondering if they ever will."
"Congress unanimously passed a bill last year, sponsored by Representative Lauren Boebert, a conservative Republican closely aligned with Mr. Trump, to help communities in her rural Colorado district pay to finish the pipeline. Then the president, fresh from adding his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, added his own disruptive stamp to another piece of the Kennedy legacy: He killed the pipeline bill."
"The back story of the water deal is a combination of the Cold War scramble after fissionable material and some surreal geological circumstance. For example, the water in this area is infused with naturally occurring uranium. Manzanola, about 40 miles east of Pueblo, has to test its water every few months and mail out letters to its residents warning them about tap water that can make Geiger counters chirp. Some homeowners have put in filtration systems."
A long-planned water pipeline in eastern Colorado intended to deliver uncontaminated water to farm towns contaminated by salt and radiation remains incomplete decades after President Kennedy's 1962 visit. Many residents still cannot safely drink tap water. Congress unanimously approved a bill, sponsored by Representative Lauren Boebert, to fund completion of the pipeline, but President Donald J. Trump vetoed the measure. The contamination traces to Cold War fissionable-material activity and local geology that leaves groundwater infused with naturally occurring uranium. Manzanola, about 40 miles east of Pueblo, tests its water periodically and mails warnings; some homeowners have installed filtration systems.
Read at www.esquire.com
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