The volunteers who maintain East Brother Light Station, the iconic and award-winning island lighthouse bed & breakfast in San Francisco Bay that also happens to be Richmond’s oldest building and a California Historic Landmark, are looking for someone to buy the island a drink -- in this case, 70,000 gallons of fresh water.

How did an island get so thirsty? It’s a long story.

For the first 130 years of its existence, the islands’ keepers disposed of sewage the old fashioned way, by piping it into the Bay. Although the amount was small and quickly became undetectable, times were changing.

With a $104,000 grant from the State Water Resources Control Board, a self-contained, state of the art intermittent sand filter treatment system was constructed at East Brother, and the island acquired a NPDES permit to discharge into the Bay, just like any municipal sewage treatment plant. Same as the last 133 years, all of the fresh water at East Brother is still collected from winter rainfall and stored in a 50,000 gallon cistern and a 20,000 redwood tank. By using salt water to flush toilets, 70,000 gallons was enough to get through the dry season.

However, intermittent sand filters don’t do well with brackish water. It seems that salt water is full of sulfates, which provide the oxygen certain anerobic bacteria like to feed on, combining with iron in the water to produce a gooey black residue of iron sulfite that clogs up sand filters. This is the same stuff that makes Bay mud black and foul-smelling.

Not to worry, during the wintertime of 2006-2007 when rain was sub-normal but still sufficient, East Brother switched over to fresh water for toilet flushing. The sand filter flushed itself out and recovered. When springtime came, there seemed to be a way to continue. With the help of another $20,000 grant, a Seafari Escape Modular reverse osmosis desalination system was purchased and installed from The Watermaker Store.

Problem is that that this type of equipment is designed to work on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Silt and debris in the Bay water quickly clog the pre-filters and make the unit inoperable in less than an hour without a filter change.

We have ordered several thousand dollars worth of specially designed pre-filters that will hopefully solve the problem, and we have raised the level of the salt water intake to draw in cleaner water, but the changes are still in progress. Meanwhile, East Brother is almost out of water.

The quick fix we need is 70,000 gallons (300 tons) of fresh water from Westar Marine Services, which has a barge that can transport water to the island. The cost: $3,000, and that’s with a discount.

We need an angel, maybe a corporate donor to pay for the $3,000 water fix. In return, the East Brother volunteers will provide the donor all five rooms (10 guests) for one night, with dinner, bed and breakfast. I will be there to personally serve (not prepare) dinner and give a historical tour of the island and tell of some rare island experiences – like the time Danielle Steele came to the island for a birthday surprise and ended up calling the FBI to save her from an experience she likened to “Cape Fear.” Your hosts and chefs will be the professional keepers of East Brother, Captains Katy and Elan Stewart.

If you want to help or know someone who does, please contact me.

Tom Butt

Richmond City Councilman

235 East Scenic Avenue

Point Richmond, CA  94801

Phone:  (Day) 510.236.7435

(Evenings and Weekends) 510/237-2084

Fax:  510.232.5325

E-mail:  tom.butt@intres.com

Tom Butt Political Website: http://www.tombutt.com/