Water Is Life

Reservoir: Demolition of 20 million gallon concrete tank built in the 1930s.  Construction of seismic-resilient two water-holding tanks.  A major part of network of tanks and pipes supplying Eugene with gravity-fed water.  All photos today, August 23 2025, about mid-point of the three-year project. 

Water is Precious. And Costly.  EWEB avoids stating project costs. AI says projects of this scope cost tens of millions of dollars.  EWEB avoids saying who pays.  EWEB invests in sophisticated PR and "news" stories simply restate its media releases. But really, does any of this matter?  Water is Life.  And we will do what we need to until such a time...

This photo-essay elides certain truths and exposes others.  A sliding calculation looking closely at matter.  At particular early morning angles, drawn to color and juxtaposition. Curiosity.  The materiality of modernity.  The arbitrary slant of necessity.  

Recalling, tens of thousands cubic yards of rock and “debris” were removed in the first year, completed this spring. Now, installing underdrains, completing grading, readying for construction of the two new 7.5 million gallon tanks "built to withstand a Cascadia-level event." 

 

Wondering.... what does "gallon" as measurement of liquid volume mean?  Or, for that matter, a cubic yard?  Millions of dollars?  Cascadia-level "event"? 

Are we at war with the Earth?  Shock-and-Jaw?  Or, are we nurturing the ancient well-spring of devotion?  Trust-and-Awe?In the ebb-and-flow of tides, we, born of water, bearers of water, feel deeply: Water Is Life. 

 

CODA
Usually one gets what one expects, but very rarely in the way one expected it.
—seismologist Charles Richter (1900-1984, namesake of the Richter scale)