Willits Economic Localization/Water/Meeting Minutes
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Meeting Minutes
Following are the Minutes from the 1/17/05 Water Group of the Sustainable Wililts Meeting.
The water committee tonight consisted of Sara O'Brien (facilitator), Ed Burton, Pat Tate, Tom Demarchi and Linda Perrine (all the way from San Jose!).
We did quick introductions as we had several new participants.
Linda said that she is a college instructor from out of the area and is looking into establishing a sustainable, organic farm here, as a part of her planned transition into the area.
Tom stated that he has been a Willits resident for about 25 years, with an avid interest in recycling and hopes to establish an Ecology Action GrowBiointensive farm on his land at Sherwood Ranch.
Pat stated that he has been a resident of Willits for over 28 years, having struggled to get financially secure and is now focusing on solidifying alternative energy and GrowBiointensive garden plans on his land.
Ed has been in the area for over 50 years and has developed many systems for the use, reuse of resources, including water. He further stated that we as a group need to place some focus on developing exportable commodities, in Willits and throughout the county.
Sara has been a resident for about 3 1/2 years working until recently for Ecology Action. She said that she views water as our most precious commodity. Sara also reported that she had spent several hours adding information to the website and asked everyone to please check it for completeness and accuracy. She said that the correct protocol for adding to the website was to place one's name and the date when posting additions and/or changes.
Sara shared the minutes from the previous meeting and asked if anyone was able to provide the 3 ideas that Ree Slocum had reported at the previous meeting. I responded that I thought Ree would probably be the best source for that information and that I had not gotten them written down previously.
We request that as many participants as possible report their average water usage data in the form of either a posting to the website or directly to the members of the water committee. Also requested is the size of the household.
Similar data will be solicited from the city water department. We also intend to pursue information reflecting both drought and flood impacts and their frequencies.
A need was expressed to understand the Willits wastewater treatment process, including quantity and how treatment is achieved. Sarah said she has some information and will get it posted to the website as soon as possible.
Ed reported that Willits is about to construct a new facility for wastewater that will involve a 'constructed wetland' element. He said that the project is awaiting approval by the State Water Quality Control Board. We will be pursuing data (percentages at minimum) of those served by city sewer system and private septic systems. The county Public Health Department was suggested as a source of the data. Pat agreed to contact the Pine Mountain Water District for information on their resource. Tom will check with the Brooktrails Community Service District for information.
Ed reported that he has read a report recently that states that 7% of municipal electrical usage is devoted to the treatment of wastewater and that legal stipulations require full power back-up for the systems.
Tom stated that we should be careful to include in our assessments the needs of humans and the rest of the biosphere.
Below are the Water Committee's Meeting Notes from the 1/3/05 Sustainable Willits meeting:
Water
The water committee consisted of Ree Slocum, Ed Burton, Dave Beebe and Pat Tate. Missing and sorely missed was Sarah O'Brien our facilitator.
We started out by reviewing our last meeting and discussing some of the questions raised then.
1. Where do we get our water locally?
Ed Burton stated that Willits receives a consistent 3' or more of annual rainfall, yielding an annual harvestable quantity of 3 acre/ft or 1,000,000+/- gallons per acre.
Water is stored in 2 reservoirs, the Norris Dam (built in 1926) and Centennial Dam (about 1990). These are the main storage facilities to the city. Ed went on to state that there are several agencies that regulate water usage;
a. CA Dept of Fish and Game b. CA Water Resources Control Board c. CA Dept of Forestry d. US Army Corp of Engineers
In the surrounding areas there are two reservoirs in Brooktrails as well.
1. In the country controlled areas water is secured privately through a number of means. Rain, springs, wells and distillation of "waste water" were listed as sources. 2. Private storage is limited to tanks, ponds and small reservoirs. It was stated that perhaps the most powerful tool in a future without cheap oil would be conservation and references were made to "GrowBiointensive" garden and farming techniques. 3. Dave Beebe discussed some of the Regulatory limits he has encountered in attempting to gain approval of stock ponds he has constructed on his own land. He is in possession of stacks of regulatory information in that regard.
2. How much water per household is needed?
Dave Beebe reported that national averages are in the range of 75 gallons/day/person. The committee requests that local citizens contribute their own water usage estimates to provide a locally relevant figure. What do you use?
3. How can we store water?
Several methods of storage were listed; concrete, plastic, metal and redwood tanks and ponds (clay lined), lined depressions, with poly or cement linings.
Ed Burton stated that information on the positive and negative aspects of different containments are available from the American Society of Agricultural Engineers.
Considerations raised as to where and how to develop water resources included sources, runoff, springs, wells and stills (distillation). Other related considerations mentioned were the Cost/Gallon of development, Fire protection/durability in the face of fire, water quality of both fresh and stored, availability (location), and whether development became a tax liability (some methods do).
4. Dave Beebe stated that reliable information was available from www.thomasregister.com and suggested it as an excellent resource.
5. Discussion moved to development of ponds and local resources were listed as Ralph Waldman and Buddy Garman as equipment operators with vast experience in the field. Also mentioned as a possible resource was SHN Services, formerly Tom Herman and Associates (soil engineers and geologists).
6. What risks of contamination of the water resource are extant?
There are many natural and introduced contaminants in the area. Among these are manganese, boron, arsenic, sulphur, iron, mercury, livestock, household chemicals, petroleum products, industrial wastes, agricultural wastes. Resources listed as potentially available for further study were the State Water Quality Control Board and the Remco Remediation Office.
7. How can we remove organic and inorganic wastes from "waste water" returning it to usefulness?
Ed Burton told us of a project he has been working with for several years in which "waste water" is used as irrigation in the growing of potted redwood trees, within a greenhouse. The passing of the water through the trees results in transpiration of pure water into the atmosphere. His project includes efforts to recapture a portion of the water for use as potable water. Ed stated that the research is still incomplete and that further study is necessary.
8. What and where are local hotspots of contamination, both natural and introduced?
9. What are high priority short term storage options within the community?
10. What are high priority long term storage options within the community?
11. What systems/processes will be viable after the end of cheap oil?
12. We ask that all participants make an effort to provide accurate estimates of domestic and other water usage for realistic assessment?
Pat Tate
Water Conservation Ideas:
use drip irrigation fill clothes washing machine loads to full use biointensive gardening methods (John Jeavens' design and methods) older dishwashing machines may be very water wastefull, newer machines are water savers. It's better to hand-wash dishes than use the old, wasteful machines. with HIGH VOLUME toilets bricks can be put into the tanks to take up volume so the flush can be about a gallon and 1/2. Retrieved from "http://www.cloudforest.org/User_talk:Ree_slocum"
