Greetings Parents, Teachers, and TaxPayers,
School’s Out. Now our kids have three months to travel and explore what they have learned in school. While they are away, the District is already preparing for the 2012-13 school year. They are interested in feedback from our Community and now is the perfect time. We will post your comments with No Names to protect your shyness unless requested otherwise. The District wants to know what is good so they can continue strong support, and what is bad and needs to be terminated.
High on the list of ‘bad’ is the water situation at Jacobs Well Elementary. The District placed this sign in front of the school which is both deceptive and dishonest. It is an irksome twisting of the truth that sets a bad example for both our students and the Community.
Rainwater Harvesting was never part of the master plan for JWE and when the school opened huge public outcry forced them to backtrack and come up with an after-the-fact solution. Their solution was to collect runoff from the school grounds, parking areas, and driveways and pump it from a sump pond into a holding tank and then onto the school playground where the kids roll and tumble.
This is an abomination of the concept of rainwater harvesting. Like claiming the collection of water from city streets or the Houston Ship Channel is rainwater harvesting…… technically correct but not true.
The water in the tank and the soil of the school ground has never been tested for heavy metals found in motor oil and water-soluble chemicals washing off the driveways. The District claims they are ‘filtering’ the contaminants out.
Irrigation of the playground must be stopped immediately and the tank water and soil be tested for possible contamination.
The sign must be taken down immediately as gesture of honesty and responsibility.
Call the TCEQ at 512-339-2929 for info on their efforts on solving this problem.
There is one excellent roof at the JWE where uncontaminated rainwater can easily be collected.
See Photos Below, Terry Raines
Overall view of the area where runoff is being collected, with tank in background. The parking lot is filthy.
Clean rainwater could easily be collected directly off the large gym roof.
This muck running out of the dumpster area is another source of contamination, along with what appears to be hydraulic oil
