To the Editor:

Playing with numbers can be fun. Multiplying 12,500 by 3,000, for example, can be done without paper and pencil or calculator. Just set the five zeros aside and then take 3 times 125, or 375. Now, add the zeros back and you have 37,500,000 total.

Thirty-seven-and-a-half-million gallons of water is about the number that 12,500 families and businesses use each month from the Beaufort County water system, assuming an average of about 3,000 gallons per month. Thirty-six million gallons is the amount the Martin Marietta plans to waste from out county aquifers in three days, pumping it into Blounts Creek, where it is not needed or wanted.

So, a typical county family uses about 100 gallons of water a day for essential purposes. Martin Marietta wishes to throw away 12,000,000 gallons a day. That’s a ratio of 120,000 to 1 in favor of Martin Marietta wasting water. Someone cynical might say that Martin Marietta wins the lottery … every day.

Not to mention the potential for damage to Blounts Creek or depletion of private and farm wells in the area.

Rumor has it that it’s a done deal. If you disagree with the above favor to Martin Marietta, let our governor and state legislators know.

Bob Diefendorf

Washington