Water is everything. It is an essential ingredient for life, at least as far as we understand within our universe.
Many of us live privileged lives in which water is an afterthought.
At times, we’ll dwell on it when reading about occurrences of water scarcity in different parts of the world, reflecting on the ongoing drought in the Southwestern U.S. where the Colorado River basin is near the brink of not meeting agricultural and domestic needs, or when turning on the tap for a cool glass of water on a hot summer day.
For me, it’s scarcity that hits close to home, akin to a kick in the gut, when my water solar pump fails.
Everything stops.
The vineyard and surrounding landscape, and more importantly, our personal water use, depend on that pump. Why?
Because if you live rurally and not within the boundaries of a water district, you either benefit from a well or a spring, or you’re hauling it in.
We have rights to a spring, which to-date has been very reliable. The weak link is the pump. Our water is captured as the spring exits the earth through a series of underground permeable pipes. By gravity, a pipe carries it downhill for a spell, where it enters a small concrete pump-house adorned with a small solar array that powers the pump.
The pump moves water uphill approximately 75 feet to a 1,500-gallon cistern. From the cistern, all our water for irrigation and domestic use is distributed.
The failure occurred in late May, as summer temperatures were becoming the norm. It took me two days and several hundred gallons of water use to clue into the failure.
Unfortunately, you can’t just go down to the local hardware store and buy a new solar pump. And of course, it was at the start of a weekend.
When Monday rolled around, and after seeking advice from the pump manufacturer in another state, we determined the pump head had to be rebuilt. I disassembled the head, then shipped it off to be fixed. After five days, the manufacturer claimed the head had not been received, though UPS would beg to differ. After begging them for relief – the cistern water level was dwindling – they agreed to send me another rebuilt head they had in stock.
The story didn’t end there. For when the pump head arrived, and because it wasn’t what I had shipped, there was a mismatch of parts to the main pump body. Another round of assessment was required, and then a new set of parts had to be shipped.
Two weeks had passed, and the cistern was near its deadpool level.
My stomach was churning.
Thank goodness the new parts matched, and with a successful assembly, we were back in business.
After all the heartburn, the experience provided a practical lesson, the need for a backup. Three years ago a much older solar pump had failed, which I kept. In talking with the manufacturer, they are willing to rebuild it at a reasonable cost.
Glory days!
This occurrence also provided the opportunity for reflection. It helps remind us how important water is in supporting life, and, even in the Southwest, how lucky we are to have access to it, no matter the delivery system. People in many parts of the world aren’t so lucky. We should always keep them in our thoughts, and support efforts to remedy water scarcity.