Now that the Seminary Oaks NIMBYs have succeeded in derailing the water reservoir construction project by criticizing its location, it is time to look at the project itself.

The bottom line is that it will, if built, provide an eight-hour supply of running water in the event the water supply to Menlo Park is interrupted due to an earthquake. After eight hours, the reservoir is empty, and that's it.

For this, we must sustain a major capital expense, followed by years of personnel and maintenance expense in perpetuity. All for eight hours of water, IF the supply line breaks.

I would submit that many DAYS of water are already available in Menlo Park "reservoirs" without ANY City expense. Every swimming pool in town has been filtered and sanitized to potability levels exceeding the municipal supply, and the water is readily available without needing electricity for pumping. Personally, I have 30,000 gallons (it's ready right now) that I would be willing to share for the asking in an emergency.

Let's use this unscheduled pause in the reservoir project to kill this Public Works boondoggle once and for all.

Jim Harvey, president
Friends of Common Sense
Cotton Street
Menlo Park Received on Thu Jul 10 15:24:44 2008