In spring, when small seasonal waterfalls are bubbling down into the South Yuba River, it's hard to imagine a water shortage, least of all for the area around Big Bend and the old Rainbow Lodge. There, cabins, and the lodge nestle snugly in rocky areas around the river, some cabins so close to the water that residents could seemingly fish from their kitchen windows.

However, water coursing down the South Yuba doesn't fill household water pipes, and many cabin owners in the Big Bend area are in desperate need of potable water.

Rainbow Lodge (a.k.a. Royal Gorge LLC), on the other hand, apparently has water to waste, as they have contracted to sell water they have taken for a bulk water sales operation from uphill springs (without Placer County permit since 1988) to Granite Construction Co., to dampen down roadway dust from construction work. Yes, clear, pure, drinkable water, that their neighbors at Big Bend sorely need, and wish to contract for - sold to dump on freeways.

Recycled water is perfectly adequate for this job, and it is readily available nearby at the Donner Summit Public Utili-ties District.

When asked why Royal Gorge LLC would not help their neighbors out by selling them water, an employee stated that Royal Gorge wished to save that water to use for their Donner Summit development.

This response is questionable for two reasons. First, pumping water up 1,000 feet in elevation, and ripping up 10 miles of old Highway 40 to lay the pipes would make that water some of the most expensive in California - a real pipe dream, in fact. Second, Rainbow Lodge, which is closed for the entire summer, is currently offered for sale with its bulk water operation included - which would mean, if the lodge sells, that the spring water will not be available to supply Royal Gorge LLC's proposed 1,000 units at Donner Summit. And a third thing, Royal Gorge LLC doesn't actually own the water they're selling; they merely have state rights to use of it, and one of the conditions underlying the use of state water is that it not be wasted.

In real life, can you think of a bigger waste than selling water your neighbors need, whether to make a cup of tea, of bathe a child, to dampen down a freeway? Isn't it time for the state to make sure that pure, potable water, an increasingly scarce resource, isn't frittered away on uses that recycled water is perfectly suitable for? Shouldn't state and county agencies require contractors to use recycled water when it's available?

Royal Gorge may possess state water rights, but its refusal to be good neighbors to Big Bend cabin owners and sell them the spring water they so urgently need - that's a water wrong!

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Kathryn Gray lives at Donner Summit.