Over-managed

There's a ponding basin at the end of our development which is completely over-managed, and because of that is basically a massive dirt/mud hole which occasionally gets a little bit of water in it...but never for long. Not pretty. 


And so I must rant.


This ponding basin is, to put it mildly, grossly over-managed by The Powers That Be in our city adminstration , who insist on 1) draining the water out anytime a significant amount (i.e, more than a few inches) is present, and 2) discing and scraping the bottom and sides of the basin on a regular basis so nothing green can grow down there.  Hence the mud hole appearance.


Where else in the country can you find people so afraid of approx. 10 annual inches of rainwater?


We had three Canada geese who showed up last week, but they only stayed a couple of days, which tells me there was either not enough water to their liking, or not enough food.  When the geese come to Fresno-area ponding basins (about an hour north of here), they tend to stay for a few months, often hatching their young there.  But Fresno is different because they not only have more ponding basins than we do, but they actually use them as recharge basins.  This means they allow the water to stand and soak into the ground, thereby replenishing the water table.  A smart decision for any city that uses well water for its municipal water supply. Hanford does not do this in all of their basins.  Often, they drain the water out regularly (sending it flowing down a canal to nowhere), then disc down the basins so they are useless for recharge purposes and butt-ugly to boot.


Who knows, maybe it's one guy in the City, trying desperately to make it look like there's enough work around to justify his job.  Or maybe it's fear of litigation over someone falling into the foot or two of water (even though it's already behind a 6 ft. tall chain link fence with barbed wire around the top, furthering the ugly factor).  Or maybe most residents just don't give a shit if they have a pond surrounded by greenery or a mud hole at the end of their block. Either/or.  Doesn't matter. Perhaps the aesthetics aren't important to anyone but me and a few other like-minded souls. As long as the cable still works and they can take their giant 5th wheels to the coast every weekend, some of my fellow residents probably figure, what does it matter anyway? 


It's just one more way I realize I don't fit in well here.  Because what we do with God's earth (see, I was going to say 'God's Green Earth', but I can't even do that because it's not even green down there!) matters.  


A ponding basin is a chance to provide a place for children to play and the ducks and geese to frolic and raise their young.  It's a place for people to relax in the cooler air a body of water provides and for us all to walk or drive by each day and feel the lightening of our souls as we gaze on something lovely.


In short:  it matters a heck of a lot. Okay.  Rant over.