Where's Noah's ark... we might need it!

Rain, Sun, Rain, Sun, Rain, Sun... 
       ......so where's the Rainbow already?

      It's been a tough weather pattern for the many families who have had their vacation rentals in August thus far. This afternoon was no exception. My "personal/official" weather station,  located on my upper deck not far from Johnny Mercer's, Pier is reading  8.56 inches of rainfall to date for the month of August.

     I don't know, from town, county or state records when it comes to rainfall, but I do know that July  here at the beach was hot, humid and pretty light on the rainfall. But now it just seems that www.weather.com staff have taken vacation after posting the forecast for the entire month of August "partly sunny, hot, humid, 40% to 60% scattered thunderstorms. In actuality, its been landing towards the 60% + several times a day.

$$$$

     Watering our garden end <> end this summer has been time consuming and costly.Frankly not our favorite fun thing to do.

     And speaking of costly, have you all been keeping up with the potable water challenge we face here in Wrightsville. The salt water infiltration on our aquifer!

      Briefly,,,,seems like the legendary water rights battles of the old wild west may be coming here to the east coast. Think of the possible story lines, novels, screenplays and legal battles about our water wars! Stand Up Paddle Boarders in attack formation as John Deere Tractors line the west bank of the ICW with their hay-balers aimed at Town Hall. It would certainly help the film industry here. There's money to be made in this I'm sure!

        Nicholas Sparks, Martin Scorsese are you out there? Jack Nicholson (Chinatown) are you available?

Where does our TOWB water come from?

Our aquifer.. that is, the aquifer that we here in TOWB tap into, drink, make ice with, slush our umbrella drinks from, shower by, cook with and flush, runs all the way back to the Piedmont. Yup that pits us sandy flatland beachers against those mid-state rolling  hill dwellers and everyone in between. That's right the aquifer runs from Winston Salem to the Atlantic Ocean a.k.a. Wrightsville Beach..

S**T Happens

As the inland demand for water increases (i.e.The Landfall Housing Project needs to water its several golf courses or Titan Cement some day may need to do what it plans to do or every tap/ well into the aquifer upstream of us turns on the faucet more and more etc. etc.) the level in the aquifer drops...and with that "S**T" happens, That's right "SALT water happens". It is sucked into the aquifer from the ocean to rebuild the level. Our TOWB water wells are right here at the bleeding edge of the aquifer and so we here suffer/risk that salt water infiltrates our potable water supply. The TOWB Public Works Dept.monitor our numerous wells to keep a vigilant eye  on this situation and shut down wells that fail the salinity test. We do have a few "problematic wells." and if you are wondering... Yes! we can still operate with a few wells shut off. But,  the increasing water demand in our town and beyond continues to keep us pressed up to the salty aquifer edge and subjected to consequences of the increasing upstream demand.

Super Pipe to the Rescue

      The TOWB backup plan, juxtaposed to a catastrophic salt infiltration failure of our wells is.....WHABAPIP  yup, we have a big ass pipe in place running  across the draw bride to Wilmington/ New Hanover County. This can quickly be called to task. No worries, they'll bring water we just bring more dollars. It won't be cheap! If you want to find out more about this BAP (Big Ass Pipe, cost and implementation plan) you can email our town manager Bob Simpson at bsimpson@towb.org or our Mayor David Cignotti at dcignotti@towb.org

Moving on, in conclusion.. epilogue

Good News... Here at Wrightsville View we haven't had to water our garden, yet this month

Bad News.... We lost our cherished garden Buddha Shrine to an aggressive sweet potato vine that has gained a second wind from these August showers!

A special spot in our garden.... "Hang in there Buddha, Autumn is just around the corner"
copyright Noah Bridges

What's next a new crop of weeds?  duh!

Thanks for reading. Noah