Kim Cohan works hard to fill the water truck for one of many trips to deliver water to the observatory (photo Mickey Salazar).

Friends to a Watery Rescue

As most Friends know, the Oliver Observing Station provides all its own utilities: electric power, gas, and water. We collect water from the observing floor roof and store it in the telescope pier, which doubles as a cistern. This year, because of the dry spring and heavy usage, we started to run out of water earlier than usual. Our trusty caretaker, Ivan (see article), gave us plenty of warning but, between some miscommunications, and the heavy demand for water trucks for building right now, the OOS ran out of water before a delivery could be scheduled.

Loyal FOM and past Chairman of the Friends, Kim Cohan seized on the situation and, after half a day of intensive phone calls, located the nearest water truck (San Jose), a driver with a Class B license (Mickey Salazar, a new FOM now), and the water.  Even with a water truck with an 1800 gallon-capacity, six trips up and down Chews Ridge over two days were required for Kim and Mickey to fill the cistern and the reserve water tank.

All's well now (waterwise) at the OOS; a special thanks to Kim and Mickey for their extra effort in rescuing our drying observatory.