POPs Grant: New Water Trailer
Mike Kelly, Conservation Chair
Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve now has a 525-gallon Water Trailer thanks to a generous grant from the Protect Our Preserves (POPs) foundation. The foundation focuses its grant making on Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, Carmel Mountain Preserve and the Del Mar Mesa Preserve. Both the City Rangers and the Friends restoration volunteers have wished for such a trailer to support our restoration projects. Both our rangers and our Friends volunteers have already used the trailer on our respective projects. And we love it!
Our projects are well away from sources of water, ruling out irrigation for our plantings. Up until now the Friends have used a “clunky” system based around my Ford 150 truck. I can pack about 140 gallons in a 50-gallon and two 25-gallon tanks with the addition of about fourteen 3- gallon jugs. With a restoration site spread out over about 1/4 mile that means volunteers have to walk considerable distances to refill our watering jugs, wasting a lot of energy and time. With the new system, which the rangers trailblazed on their projects and we copied, we placed 50- gallon drums at 4 locations within the project footprint. We fill each of these drums up ahead of time and bring a reserve of water in the trailer itself. Our volunteers now have a much closer place to refill their jugs. And we have more than enough water to give our new plantings a generous drink.
One feature of the new MultiQuip trailer is that it has a built-in gas-powered pump system. We run a fire hose out from the trailer and the pump delivers a powerful stream of water into the drums. The pump also works in reverse, making it possible to suck water out of a stream such as Peñasquitos Creek!
The 525-gallon MultiQuip Water Trailer is here hooked up to Mike Kelly's truck (out of picture).
Friends president Beth Mather is seen filling one of the 50-gallon drums.
The Friends applied for a grant of $12,362.19 from the POPs foundation. They loved the idea that both the City Rangers and Friends volunteers would be sharing the equipment and approved the grant. However, along the way the Friends joined a nonprofit purchasing cooperative and purchased the equipment with a $2,000 discount! The final cost of the rig was $8,596.00.
With title in hand the Friends turned around and gifted the water trailer to the City. Why this indirect method of getting the City ownership, instead of directly between MultiQuip and the City? Both the City’s purchasing and grant systems are long and drawn out, especially for such a small cost. POPs and the Friends can move quickly and get it done. Also, by having the City take ownership two things happen. The equipment then qualifies for exempt licensing and plates from the State and becomes part of the City’s fleet of mechanized equipment. This means the City will be responsible for repairs or maintenance.
