美国国家公共电台 NPR In A Drying Climate, Colorado's 'Water Cop' Patrols For Water Thieves

In A Drying Climate, Colorado's 'Water Cop' Patrols For Water Thieves

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

It was a hot, dry summer this year in the American Southwest. In farming communities in the Four Corners region where Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico share a border, water supplies have been scarce. And during dry times like these, some people are willing to do just about anything to get more water, including stealing it. From member station KUNC, Luke Runyon has more on a local man who's known as the water cop.

LUKE RUNYON, BYLINE¹: One morning a few years ago, Dave Huhn got a call. The woman on the other end was frantic², screaming as she watched her 82-year-old husband in the yard.

DAVE HUHN: And he was being beaten with a shovel³ by his 86-year-old neighbor.

RUNYON: The fight was over water. One of the men accused the other of taking more than his share from their irrigation ditch, leaving less for everyone else.

HUHN: You had two old-timers that were very stubborn and very hard-headed. And they were bound and determined⁴ to do it their way. And the other party was saying, no, you won't.

RUNYON: Huhn is a sheriff's deputy in Montezuma County, Colo., in the Four Corners. Tasked with enforcing the state's complex water law, he's probably the only deputy in the state with this kind of job, making sure water goes where it's supposed to.

HUHN: We've seen some really inventive ways this year for stealing water.

RUNYON: So how did they do it? Well, one method - drop a pump into an irrigation ditch; turn it on. And if you don't have the water rights to do that, it's a crime. Method No. 2 - you have rights to water but not a lot. So you take more than you're allowed.

HUHN: Cortez MC-209.

RUNYON: Inside his black Ford⁵ pickup⁶, Huhn says when he started handing out tickets for water theft, it didn't go over well.

HUHN: First, people were shocked. They were like - you're kidding me, right? You're going to cite me over water? I was like, yes. It's a valuable commodity in this state.

BOB SCHUSTER: Hello, there.

RUNYON: Seventy-six-year-old farmer Bob Schuster knows all about water thieves. He grows wine grapes and hay and runs a plumbing⁷ supply store in the county's biggest city of Cortez. He's dressed in denim⁸ overalls⁹, sporting a black and gray beard. Schuster says droughts make people desperate.

SCHUSTER: People are basically - and these are good people - basically dishonest.

RUNYON: Schuster's farm is at the end of an irrigation ditch with several users upstream. If they're taking more water than they're entitled to, it dries up before it reaches his crops.

SCHUSTER: They look out their fields. They see they need water, and they take the water going through that's not theirs.

RUNYON: And it's common for emotions to run high in these disputes. He says he's had guns pointed¹⁰ at him, shovels¹¹ swung at his head and been sucker punched in fights with neighbors over water.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Sheriff's office - may I help you?

RUNYON: Back at the office, Huhn says violent skirmishes have declined since the county started enforcing water law. But it's a fragile peace.

HUHN: Historically, we've had people killed over water in the state of Colorado. We have in this county.

RUNYON: Huhn is on patrol in a part of the country where climate change is likely to make water even more scarce than it is now.

HUHN: We don't want the fighting between families and between friends. We want to be able to resolve it in a nonviolent way.

RUNYON: And as his community dries out, Huhn knows he'll be spending more time, not less, keeping fights over water from blowing up.

For NPR News, I'm Luke Runyon in Cortez, Colo.

(SOUNDBITE OF JEAN MICHEL JARRE'S "OXYGENE, PART 4")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。

3 shovel   

n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出

参考例句：

• He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
• He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。

4 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

5 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

6 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

7 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 denim   

n.斜纹棉布；斜纹棉布裤，牛仔裤

参考例句：

• She wore pale blue denim shorts and a white denim work shirt.她穿着一条淡蓝色的斜纹粗棉布短裤，一件白粗布工作服上衣。
• Dennis was dressed in denim jeans.丹尼斯穿了一条牛仔裤。

9 overalls   

n.（复）工装裤；长罩衣

参考例句：

• He is in overalls today.他今天穿的是工作裤。
• He changed his overalls for a suit.他脱下工装裤，换上了一套西服。

10 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

11 shovels   

n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
• In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天，我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句