A Ray of Hope
Every once in a while when you are reading the newspaper, you digest an article that gives you renewed hope that there is a chance for humanity to survive. Maybe more folks are beginning to see the light.
This morning, I saw two newspaper pieces that kindled such thoughts. The first was about two candidates challenging the others to “be nice”. The other is a suggestion by the county that they’ll recycle wastewater. Both are the type of thinking that you wish more would adopt.
The two candidates are running for township council in one of Cape May County’s 16 municipalities. Both are Republicans, but running as independents. They’ll face a three-way race against the Dems and GOP. With elections still seven months away, the pair asked their opponents to follow some “fair play” rules. Civility in civil service, so to speak. A novel idea!
They asked for no lawn signs. They asked that the names or photos of opponents not to be disclosed in any campaign mailings. They also pledged to not accept contributions from anyone doing business with the county, including engineers, architects, attorneys, etc.
The question is whether the opponents will agree to these terms. Certainly, the two who laid out the gameplan will abide by it. But it takes two to dance - actually three in this case. While the outcome is still in doubt, you have to like the way this pair have challenged the rest to not dish the dirt.
The other piece of encouraging news is that the county will be irrigating the County Park and Zoo, the ACCC campus, and the nearby municipal playing fields complex with treated wastewater. That is a concept used effectively in areas in California and Florida, amongst others, and it will become a natural part of our lives in the future.
Once these three local places have the infrastructure in place to handle treated wastewater pumped from the municipal utilities authority (MUA) treatment plant, the public will see the benefits. This process not only saves on using precious water from our dwindling aquifers, but it allows irrigation water to percolate through the ground and eventually find its way back down to help replenish the aquifer.
This wastewater recycling has been advocated by local environmentalists, like myself, since the ’90s. Hopefully, next on the agenda would be golf courses. On a hot summer day, the typical 18-hole Cape May County golf course uses 400,000 to 600,000 gallons of potable water to irrigate the grass. With a dozen courses, that’s a lot of water everyday. At the same time, the MUA is pumping billions of gallons of treated wastewater into the ocean to get rid of it.
So let’s see. A couple of experienced politicians want to act like gentlemen and the county is pursuing water reuse. Do I see a faint light at the end of the tunnel?
- Mountain Man