PHIL Donnell (Letters, August 16) of Phoenix, Arizona, tells us that they manage there on only seven inches of rain a year.

In Britain, where it rains stair rods and cats and dogs, we are down to our last drop of corporation pop.

Arizona, Colarado and Utah are dry states - each about the size of Britain and each with a population of about four million. The seven inches of rain that they claim to survive on annually seems to be supplemented by supplies from the great Salt Lake of Utah - a freshwater lake 70 miles long and 50 miles wide. It is the waters that run into the great Salt Lake that the Mormons have channelled for irrigation systems.

The water that comes off the High Sierras descends into a delta above San Francisco.

Here it is pumped into massive aqueducts and across hundreds of miles to the south, to supply California's thirsty 30 million population.

California produces 45 per cent of America's fruit and vegetables, which need watering.

The well-watered lawns and swimming pools of its homes contrast with the sun-parched surrounding landscapes.

JAMES RATCLIFFE, Thomas Street, Haslingden.

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