While Harry Strohauer lay unconscious in his hospital bed for four days, his doctor gave his wife an ultimatum.
Strohauer had a reasonably good diet and farming hundreds of acres in Gilcrest kept him fit. His doctor, therefore, knew it could only be one thing that triggered his massive heart attack.
“The first thing that the doctor — after talking to my wife a little bit — said was ‘you cannot let him talk to anybody about water,'” Strohauer said.
Farmers need water. But Strohauer, like dozens of farmers along the South Platte River, has suffered from the effects of curtailed well pumping, the result of legislation, a Supreme Court case and battles with downstream surface water rights owners.
For Strohauer, the results of the court order forcing him to stop pumping were doubly devastating. Not only did it eventually dry out hundreds of acres of corn, it also raised the water table, causing his potatoes to rot. Residents suffered, as well, as their basements flooded, forcing them to install expensive sump pumps and make other repairs.
Read the full story
