Cult of the Pipe
(May 21, 2009) For seven years, Westhaven residents Peter Lonnies and his partner Susanna have sipped of the elixir that pours forth from the hill just before northbound Highway 101’s Westhaven turnoff. There, two side-by-side white plastic pipes jut a few feet out of the hillside by the highway, about three feet above the ground, constantly spilling free, tasty spring water.
Lonnies and his partner only drink water from the pipe: two gallons a day between them, which they collect once or twice a week on their way back home from town in several five-gallon old-fashioned glass bottles.
“My partner and I, we pride ourselves to eat organic foods and uncontaminated water,” Lonnies said. “The Westhaven water supply here has chlorine and bromide and chemicals in it, that we have never drunk. One of the reasons we live here is because we enjoy that water there.” Cyclists also drink from it, and perhaps the occasional passerby enjoying a novelty roadside tipple.
But there’s trouble at the pipes. Last week, Caltrans replumbed them so that now water spills out just inches above the ground.
Pipe imbibers are incensed.
“This is a very huge humanitarian dilemma!” said Lonnies, his voice rising over the phone Tuesday afternoon.
Caltrans spokesperson Julie East said on Tuesday it’s a safety issue. “People were stopping on the side of the highway to get water,” East said. “We would just hate to see something happen there to someone.”
East said the California Highway Patrol asked Caltrans last winter to put in a sign notifying people that it’s illegal to stop on the side of the freeway, an offense that carries a $148 fine. Caltrans put the notice up this February, below a sign that says “emergency parking only.”
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SIX Comments
Comment / By Amy Miller / May 22, 2009, 7:56 a.m.
I am so glad to see this article,even though it is only being published due to the “problem at the source”. Years ago I was introduced to this spring by a great friend and had been stopping regularly for a supply of water on my way north to the lagoons. During one such stop,a companion told me that he could not BELIEVE that I was drinking dirty gutter water,how disgusting the pipe was, and that I would be lucky not to get a disease from drinking from it! I hope that he is reading!
Comment / By Heidi Walters / May 22, 2009, 9:29 a.m.
Amy,
I am ashamed to admit, I have wanted to write about the spring and the people who drink from it for several years, merely as a story about this community of spring drinkers, but kept putting it off for other stories … you’re right, it’s too bad it took a problem to make me do it finally. Media. Humph.
Heidi
Comment / By Rebecca / May 22, 2009, 2:33 p.m.
The local Sheriffs Dept. and Cal Trans should be paying more attention to a barrel full of either human remains or human fecal matter (whatever it is it smells really bad!!)that has been contaminating Ruby Creek (just outside of Willow Creek)for the past month. I called both and they said they would take care of it and last I checked it was still there…
Comment / By Oh Man / May 25, 2009, 11:50 a.m.
I wipe fecal matter on the pipes occasionally. Drink up!
Comment / By Noel Soucy / June 2, 2009, 1:20 p.m.
I have a ticket for this and will be in court this week. I could use some advice. My number is (707)834-6262
Comment / By Allison Lonnies / June 4, 2009, 9:14 a.m.
That’s my dad!