June
22, 2006
Sunshine and Water
By Jack D. McNamara
Last Friday the city
of Alpine announced water restrictions — no car washing, no lawn
watering. Water levels in the city’s tanks was/is low. This
announcement followed another to the effect that the telemetry system
which regulates the tanks’ pumping and storage system was again
dysfunctional.
Alpine and
the surrounding area are very dry. We have received barely a half inch
of rain so far this year, indeed since last October. Our local boosters
and spinmeisters will be burning the midnight oil trying to figure out
just how to represent our annual rainfall as 18 inches annually. In
fact our annual rainfall is more often only 10 inches. Good years we
have 12 or 13. Two years ago we received over 30 inches, an exception
and the only recorded example of such bounty in our history.
The
general question here is whether we are becoming more desertified or
not. The optimists see only an occasional dry year now and then, no
impediment to more tourists and water carnivals. The pessimists see an
inexorable advance of deserts in these latitudes, very likely a result
of global warming. Whatever one’s disposition, this is going to be a
hot summer in the Big Bend.
Down
Town
Alpine
celebrated “Fiesta del Sol” Saturday. The creation of the Alpine event
is usually credited to Jean Hardy of Front Street Books. Saturday the
bookstore featured two musicians from the Sul Ross music department
during the fiesta.
There was
plenty of sun to celebrate. The thermometer has consistently hovered
around 100 degrees. On “Fiesta” day, June 17, the Weather Channel
reported us at 95 degrees at 6 p.m. The humidity was only 3%. Three
hours of direct sunlight remained. We are poised on the June 21 Summer
Solstice, the longest day of what promises to be a very hot and dry
year.
We sent
our leg person and Webmaster into the furnace to discover the fate of
the fiesta. She tells us —
Mi Tesoro
attracted a crowd who came to see their artifacts of the Mexican
Romantic Period. Susana Busey is a new mother of twins, a challenge for
her and her husband Dave, former city economic development director.
Quetzal
Art and Imports at 302 W. Holland, which specializes in crafts from
Mexico, served wonderful margarita wine coolers.
Sixth
Street was closed off again in the first block between the one-way
streets. At the Sixth Street Bakery and Ice House, 114 N. Sixth Street,
a musical group played with Dennis Grevsky on saxophone and Rick Ruiz
on guitar.
La
Trattoria Espresso Bar and Ristorante at 202 W. Holland was hung with
paintings on black velvet by different artists. All the paintings
pictured President George W. Bush in one aspect or another.
Kiowa
Gallery at 105 E. Holland, home of Keri Artzt, drew a steady stream of
visitors.
At Ashby
and Allison Fine Art Gallery, 702 E. Holland Avenue, Alpine native and
National Football League star Bake Turner played a guitar and sang
golden oldies country and western songs from decades past.
The only
disconcerting sounds were from the emergency vehicles and police sirens
wailing along Holland Avenue presumably in hot pursuit of some
notorious criminal.
In the
lobby of the Holland Hotel, newly acquired by Harold and Tresa Mois, an
oompah band played enthusiastically, wearing Tyrolean hats.
The crowds
were smaller than in previous years perhaps because city support was
limited in comparison with some previous years.
Another Water
Disaster?
Last
Friday’s water restrictions were entirely voluntary and lawn watering
was cleared by Monday. The problems were described in a Friday noon
KVLF interview with the city’s new utilities director, Cynthia (Cindy)
Hollander. Mrs. Hollander is the city’s fourth utilities boss in five
years, since Virgil Clark resigned in late 2001. She was hired May 16
and will be paid $46,000 annually after a probationary period of six
months.
The city’s
telemetry system has suffered numerous problems since the city acquired
the system through a $132,000 grant in 2001. In September 2004 we
learned that an old well was not even metered. Two months prior the
tanks were overflowing because the telemetry system failed to shut off
the pumps. A broken fire hydrant has been spilling water on the north
side for weeks. To fix the current problem we will apparently have to
await the arrival of an expert from Dallas.
Alpine’s
groundwater supplies are probably in no danger, perhaps because of the
good rains in 2004. Alpine now has more storage capacity (in the form
of tanks) than ever before. We even have a 200,000-gallon tank far out
in Sunny Glen that we don’t need. What is in serious danger is the
condition of the wells. Alpine has 19 of them mainly in two fields,
Musquiz and Sunny Glen. And of course the water distribution system of
pipes and valves and meters is not in danger. It is a disaster, a
disaster for which the previous council borrowed $4.8 million without a
bond referendum. The council before the last one borrowed $1.35 million
without a referendum.
But we
have belabored this point before. In May the city’s voters replaced two
councilpersons who had fought to fix the problem and reelected the
mayor, an irrevocable decision.
So the
problem is now that of the new majority on the council, however that
majority shakes out.
Already we
have an example. The city agenda for Tuesday night did not include any
item for the water restrictions. Nor did the agenda include a proposed
five-year capital improvement program as required by the city’s
charter. It is that program which should tell us how the council is
going to spend the $4.8 million.
The
capital improvement budget for 2006-2007 was due June 15.
So what?
The city staff has not made the deadline during the past five years,
just as they have failed to determine the meter status, or the missing
millions of gallons of water, or the water level in 19 wells, or …
But we
have a new city manager these past six months. We have a new city
secretary as well as a new utilities director. Whether it makes any
difference in the way the city runs remains to be seen. We are
encouraged but cautious.
One thing
should be clear, however, and that is the city council is accountable
to the voters. That is what the charter says and we demonstrate the
fact every year at the polls.
Good luck.
•
(Also
published by the Big Bend Sentinel of Marfa, Texas June 22, 2006.)
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