A Little Truth in the H2O Maybe?

     If you watched the Cascade City Council meeting last night, you saw me get up at an agenda item entitled "Resolution on Acquisition of Development for Outdoor Recreation" and say, "Whoa!"
     "You guys have allocated $20,000 to economic development, let bids for the tennis courts, and authorized how much bonding for the swimming pool?"
     "Two million dollars."
      "All while there are people in this town who are not getting potable water--sometimes it's so foul, you can't wash clothes in it either. What plans have you made to replace these 100-year-old lines?"
      Mayor Staner maintained there was only one line in town that was like that, but other city workers tell a different tale--there are plenty of old lines on the west side that need replacing too.
      When I subsequently asked how much water was wasted in flushing these lines nobody knew exactly, but spring and fall when the whole system is flushed, that's 150,000 gallons. Right down the river. Tainted water because, it is full of ammonia to begin with and they put chlorine and fluoride in it and a poly-something or other to make (or keep) impurities from adhering to the walls of the lines.

The mayor insists the water is perfectly safe and certainly meets DNR standards, but at a previous meeting council allocated $13,500 to study whether we should spend two million bucks for a new reverse osmosis system.

Hawaii Memories: Turtles, Angry Rain Gods & Rich Ole Farts

Once, winter 1980-1, I went to Hawaii with a couple other women--a friend and our joint accountant. It rained--pelted and poured--for the first five days.

I wrote a storm of post cards saying: “Help! I am being held hostage by an angry rain god on Kauai. Send umbrellas and sun.”

After five or six days, it stopped and we went golfing. I messed up a whole lot of turf on the first hole, and never succeeded in hitting a golf ball. Finally, I stomped off verbally abusing the sport.

Next, we went to a volcano, which seemed like a non-event: nothing but a big ole hole in the ground. I was pig-ignorant about seismic geology. I saw a Public TV doc on the Kilouah volcano last weekend. Now, if I had seen that before I went. . .

My comrades made tennis and golf dates with old rich farts we met evenings in bars. The rich, old farts came onto them and the busboys and waiters came onto me. Nothing like a Democratic Socialist mouth to turn off a rich old fart.

The flowers were like nothing I’d ever seen, likewise ficus right in the ground, not a pot. I discovered something else on the beach. While they tennis-ed and golfed, I ran down the beach. Two or three miles (once upon a time I could run that far) one day seeing nothing but turtles and seaweed. Now, I know why we are trying to overpopulate the earth. I was freaked by the time I got back to civilization.

Speaking of National Emergencies

This week a Cascade citizen posted this on Facebook: “The real national emergency is the water in Flint, MI.” She doesn’t have to go so far. Go out to the water line on your street.

 At its 11 February meeting council allocated $13,500 for a “preliminary” water treatment report.  Pursuant to considering whether the city will install a “reverse osmosis” system to deal with water we are pumping out of the Jordan Aquifer increasingly tainted with ammonia, and requiring increasing doses of chlorine to make potable.

Tuesday morning I stopped and asked the City Administrator what funds were earmarked for the east side line that must be flushed once a week in hot weather. Presuming that naturally, it would be replaced this year.

No funds were allocated or earmarked! I was then told it wasn’t just that line, but the  main and several lines on the west side of town also need replacing.  Now, there is a solution: do nothing because so much needs to be done.

 So I asked her, “How can council let bids for a swimming pool, tennis court resurfacing, donating $20,000 for Economic Development (done at Monday night’s meeting) while not delivering drinkable water to all citizens?"

She shrugged her shoulders and said, “I don’t make those decisions.

            Next council meeting is Mon. 25 February. If you think a city shouldn’t be building recreation facilities before providing all citizens with basic necessities like water, you should be at the next council meeting. Once the budget is finalized and passed, you can’t object.

Celtic Enchantment from Brittany

      Just thought I would share this enchanting New Year's photo from my friend Francoise in France. She lives in Paris but hails from Bretagne, the northern section of the country that English speakers refer to as Brittany. It has a distinct musical and linguistic culture, fairly easy to recognize as Celtic. In fact, the area is regarded as one of the seven Celtic groups including Ireland, Scotland, Gallicia, Wales, Cornwall and the Isle of Man.  Here's hoping she will visit Eastern Iowa because I know she'd love Effigy Mounds, the Mississippi, and some of the wineries hereabouts!