Water
On a recent walk in Spring Lake Park we saw several giant steel water tanks, and a sign provided the info that there were 14 of these around the city. I imagined this was the total storage for the city so when I got home I decided to do some research. It turned out that these held a small portion and were for keeping up with daily use. In summer Santa Rosa, a city of about 177,000, can use as much as 7 to 8 hundred million gallons (800,000,000) a month. Santa Rosa's primary source of water is from the Russian River supplied by the Sonoma County Water Agency (Water Agency). The Water Agency pumps water that is naturally filtered through rock, sand and gravel from wells about 100 feet below the river bed and provides that water to retail water suppliers, including Santa Rosa, throughout Sonoma County and North Marin.
We are so used to turning a tap and having all the clear pure safe water we want. There are parts of this country where this is not true, such as Flint Michigan and areas in the south central valley of California.
Water covers 70% of our planet, and it is easy to think that it will always be plentiful. However, freshwater—the stuff we drink, bathe in, irrigate our farm fields with—is incredibly rare. Only 3% of the world’s water is fresh water, and two-thirds of that is tucked away in frozen glaciers or otherwise unavailable for our use.
As a result, some 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to water, and a total of 2.7 billion find water scarce for at least one month of the year. In Morocco in the Sahara Desert we camped near a mini-oasis and watched as women laboriously pulled up water from a well and carried bottles off, tied to a donkey. There were no dwellings as far as we could see.
I have always been interested in water sources and have frequently asked folks where their water comes from. Surprisingly often people don’t know and occasionally indicate that they’re not interested as long as water comes out when they turn the faucet. I looked up information on Sonomawater.org and learned nearly everything I wanted to know.
So (as my Dad used to say) “Just a suggestion.” Use google to learn about your own area’s water systems. Then when we meet and I ask you, you will know. There are those of us that are or have been on wells, so we “know” where our water comes from. But at the farm we used many sources including county maps to discover how the water got to our aquifer in the first place.
Our climate sometimes surprises those from other parts of the country in that it never rains for 8 months of the year so we pretty much have to water every day. Here’s some photos from our tiny back patio.
Peruvian Daffodils, from bulbs given to us from my uncle many years ago. Good memory.
Rubrum Lillies
Masses of flowers, in pots and in the ground. Mrs. side pocket’s green thumb.
Our newest projects. A Daphne in a fancy pot, and an orange Japanese Maple companion for our other Japanese Maple. If they like each other they will grow together in a happy marriage and live happily ever after.