Water, water everywhere and not a drop to ...

In the olden days there were not any fire hydrants on Bethel Island. Nowadays there are fire hydrants, but they don’t have any water in them. Sometime in between there was water pumped from the slough available for the hydrants.
Here we are in 2012 and our hydrants are covered with burlap and don’t work. When the new bridge to the island was built, the big pump was taken out. I’m pretty sure the water pipes to the hydrants are still underground along Bethel Island Road.
Do you suppose we could get a new pump at the bridge? If there are leaks in the pipes to the hydrants they could be fixed. Who knows about this?
If there was a fire near downtown, it would be good to have a water source here. If water tenders come to the island from Oakley and Brentwood it would be good if they could fill up on the island when their tanks run out instead of going back to their stations five or more miles away.
The last records I saw showed that Bethel Island’s tax paid to the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District was over $700,000 per year. Maybe some of that money could be allocated to a new pump at the bridge. Perhaps there are plumbers on the island who can test the pipe and tell us what needs to be done. I’m sure there would be willing volunteers to do some digging down to the pipes and help repair them under the supervision of a licensed plumber.
I don’t think we should have to wait and hope the Delta Coves project will bring water to the hydrants.
This is an editorial.