I’ve had a pretty good week, all things considered, and I’d like to tell you about it. This time, as promised, we’re back to drinking water and environmental issues. Although the deluge of bad new continues, there are some green shoots growing among the rubble that are shoring up my faith in humanity. I’ll share some with you, while placing them in context.
Grace under Pressure
In March in It's down to the States I wrote:
Last year in Stone, meet water, I wrote of my frustration at the lack of clear answers from the Navy on plans and a timetable for following the EPA MCL Implementation Memo to address PFAS contamination in drinking water around Naval Air Station Whidbey facilities. I've since learned from a community member that the Navy has recently, in compliance with that memo, installed point-of-use filters (under-sink reverse osmosis units in this case) for members of a small community water system which tested above the proposed MCLs, and will drill a new community well in the fall.
A few weeks ago, one of my evasive Navy correspondents and I found ourselves on a panel together at a leadership workshop and so met in person for the first time. I was able to thank her for replying to my emails, even if she couldn't answer my questions!
I followed up by email with some words of encouragement and heard back:
"Still here. We weathered the first round of attack ok. I didn’t lose any probationary employees, but we are preparing for a Reduction in Force (RIF) in the next 2 months. Fun times!"
She also shared that their travel cards had been suspended, so a planned April open house series was in question.
I’m happy to report that the Navy open houses did go ahead as planned, and I was able to attend the first. The Navy Facilities (NAVFAC) staff were well prepared to explain the progress they’ve made, including stepping out the testing areas and retesting some previously tested wells to the new interim standards. The staff that I had nagged in my emails were all in attendance. The first I spoke to told me:
“Oh, you’re the guy that writes the newsletter!” I didn’t know she read it. “We appreciate that even when you’re asking hard questions, you stick to the facts and you’re always polite.”
Well, that was music to my ears, as that’s exactly what I hope to achieve!
Moving around the room, I found out that all the NAVFAC staff had read it and had similar things to say. I’m not sure where they’re finding it. I checked my subscriber list and there’s not a .mil email address there anywhere. Perhaps a cross post. Anyway, if you’re reading, thank you!
The last person I spoke to on my way out was the one I met earlier this year. She told me that she’d forwarded my emails of encouragement to her staff to let them know that “someone cares about them” and that she’d only lost two out of her seventeen.
I also ran into a representative from Ecology and had a quick word about the non-military PFAS issues we have. It’s a work in progress. We’ll know more in a few weeks when the new state budget becomes visible.
The Wisdom is in the System
Food and Water Watch reported last Friday on the regime’s 2026 budget plan:
Among other things, the plan includes massive cuts to the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs, the primary source of federal funding for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in the country.
The budget plan recommends slashing $2.46 billion from the current $2.76 billion funding level. The Trump administration seeks to eliminate the program outright, and it stated that the remaining $305 million is intended for states to find “alternative funding sources for their water infrastructure.”
Accordingly, I’ve spent most of the past two weeks finishing a preliminary loan application so that our local water systems can remain in the running for the larger loan we would need for consolidation and relocation before the DWSRF turns into a pumpkin. It’s becoming clear, though, that the timing of this “fiscal cliff” is not playing nicely with the timing of events in the physical world and we look to be headed back to the drawing board to explore more options.
The silver linings here are fabulous support from our State Departments of Health and Commerce staff, increased community cooperation and involvement, an increased sensitivity to the needs of the most vulnerable among us, and a growing trust in the system, by which I mean trusting that given the tools and information they need, the decision that the community makes will be the right one.
Green Shoots
I owe you an update on sea level rise, but that story’s not ready to be written just yet. I did attend a couple of other things this week, though, that I’d like to share.
Whidbey Climate Action asked if I’d join them in watching a screening of Water is Love and lead one of the small discussion groups afterwards. That didn’t quite work out as planned, as technical difficulties delayed the start of the film leaving insufficient time for the small group discussions, but it was good to reconnect with local friends and meet new ones.
Whidbey’s own Organic Farm School held a soft opening, complete with wood-fired pizza and beverages, of their new honesty-based farm stand.
The Organic Farm School is a learning center for anyone wanting to grow food at a community scale, and those wanting to learn more about how they can play an active role in community food systems. We offer an intense, residential apprenticeship for beginning farmers, as well as workshops, Farm Stays, community potlucks, short term Summer Blocks for the “farm curious” and more!
That modest introductory paragraph from the web site doesn’t do justice to the many ways that the farm school helps the community. They underpin so many of our local food programs from Whidbey Island Nourishes to Whidbey Island Grown to Good Cheer Food Bank to South Whidbey Tilth.
Executive Director Judy Feldman shared that, due to the regime’s budget cuts, the South Whidbey School Farms program will lose its three AmeriCorps volunteers and expressed her hope that the community would find a way to fill the void. Between Judy’s passion, and the number of community leader friends I saw in attendance, I believe the community will come through.
Green shoots indeed.
If you like to eat food and you care about where it comes from, please subscribe to Judy’s Substack newsletter Dishing Up The Dirt | Organic Farm School.
Are you seeing green shoots around you? Please tell us about it in the comments.
Next week I get to be interviewed for Whidbey Environmental Action Network’s Action Hour Podcast, among other mostly fun water and environmental things. I’ll be reporting back in due course.
Meanwhile, thanks, as always, for reading or listening. To make sure you see every newsletter, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
John, as evidenced by the responses you got upon meeting all those you had only interacted with on-line, YOU are a green shoot of hope! Water and food are so intimately connected that I find all of your posts to be inspirational -- even as sometimes the world is wrong headed and the news is not good. Thanks for helping us all better understand not only the importance of water, but how we can and must stand up to protect it.
Well done John! Your commitment to the clean water cause coupled with goodwill is the only way forward...it's team building like this that gives us hope that, while setbacks are inevitable, refinements are made, and others with much to contribute may also be attracted to your good fight to make 'good trouble' ...it's very much the kind of good news we all need right now :)