Best approach to water problem called YOYO
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July 2, 2015
To the Eagle:
Back in '92 when we retired, we bought a derelict cedar cabin 4500 feet up the south slope of Mauna Loa on the "Big Island" of Hawaii. The water system source was a rain barrel, but a huge one, nine feet tall, 16 feet in diameter, built with 150 redwood staves. We rehabbed the system with some trepidation, since you could see daylight between the dried out staves, and the property was in the middle of the Ka'u Desert, so rainfall was sparse. But rain did come, and with 1600 square feet of tin roof, every inch of rain put nearly 1000 gallons of water in the tank. On cool, clear mornings we'd listen to water gushing into the tank just from condensation on the metal roofs. At the end of a year the tank was full to the brim (13,000 gallons).
We installed a solar driven drip irrigation system and over the next few years got a pretty good tropical garden going with a wide variety of plants from local nurseries, some lawn, and a grove of pine, ironwood, and eucalyptus on our two acres of lava. We named the place Hale Pali, which is as close as we could get to "cliff dwelling" in Hawaiian, and enjoyed it as a vacation home and occasional rental for 12 years with all the water we needed, and no water bills.
Over the years I have written letters to, and had discussions with two Cathlamet mayors about the glories of (and maybe necessity of) catchment water in our community, and have made a couple of presentations to the PUD on the subject. They've been polite, but shown no interest. I've finally concluded that the various bureaucracies have no real capability to reach out and help homeowners develop independent systems. These are the same bureaucracies that have chosen to rely on Mother Nature to store up water in snow packs on the mountain tops, rather than build adequate reservoirs. Cathlamet actually had a nice reservoir tank up on Columbia Street, but chose removal over rehab several years ago.
Too late to do much about the current water shortage, but with a little elbow grease (and maybe a little help from the internet), you could be ready for the next one. As is true with most dealings with our bureaucracies, the best approach to the water problem is called YOYO (you're on your own).
Howard Brawn
Puget Island
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