Heed: Conservation on island is sorely in need | Letters | Aug. 6

Published 11:28 am Friday, August 6, 2010

There once was a young bear near Fletcher Bay

Who tried to sell his den and the dock on eBay.

No one wanted to buy

Because his aquifer was nearly dry

So he moved it with speed nearer Bay Hay & Feed.

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The USGS water report at City Hall on July 27 was troubling. It said one-third of island well users did not get full water recharge at deep aquifer levels. This is our only captured resupply. If this news had a lining it was this has taken awhile and the aquifer is, well, pretty deep. The future news got no better.

We’re sharing our recharge water with off-island needs. And if as many new islanders swell our population by 2035, our water recharge net loss may increase by almost 10 feet.

That is, without new means of recharging, well use shifting, or we reduce consumption. This is as near to us as the generation playing on our soccer fields and for whom we’re voting again for quality in their schools and library.

The most telling risk feature about the report was not said. Complacent islanders may say this is slow enough for them to ignore.

Others among us may be impatient at any bridling while we think it’s more western-minded to say we can fix it then or move away. We habitually dislike subdivision rules, loss of green lawns or forced resources scrimping as we recycle.

They would shun the hike on developers of new water meter costs from $500 to $300,000 per dwelling, as became real this year for a water-challenged coastal town south of us. Any climate change here if we will it isn’t going to happen?

Without a start of a water reserves focus here soon (whether it’s Marin County-style bladders or pumping it across the bridge), islanders may regret not having the utility ratepayers’ lawsuit wish list jump-start this initial focus on honest recharge norms.

Otherwise there may be no sewer flows to fuss over. The last person on island by 2070 will have to turn out the light. They could just ignore the whistle from our empty spigots.

R.O. Conoley

Sunrise Drive