MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif. -- For the past three years, Earth Day aboard MCLB Barstow has meant little more than one thing: a new plant gets a home in the garden in front of Building 15. This year, however, the Base Environmental Division took a different approach.
The Base Environmental Division unveiled the recently completed Solar Powered Water Hole project located past the base golf course. The project is a one year pilot program, a temporary setup to see if it is reliable enough for more permanent projects down the road, said Jack Stormo, director, base environmental division.
"We're trying out this project in the circumstances we have here to see if this modern technology can supply surface water for the animals we have here," said Stormo. "We would like to use this technology in areas where there is no surface water and would never be surface water, so once we start to supply water to this area, we need to continue supplying it or risk creating a bigger problem. If the animals get used to the water being there and then suddenly it is gone, that can have devastating results."
The areas on base where the environmental division would like to implement the technology do not currently have a supply of power. The solar panels are a relatively inexpensive alternative to spending hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars preparing and installing power lines and other equipment in the areas, said Stormo.
The project works when photovoltaic cells, more commonly known as solar panels, turn sunlight into electricity and run a pump that transfers underground well water to the surface where it can supply plants and animals with nourishment. It took roughly 40 hours and $2,500 for several employees from the environmental division and a few volunteers to install the project, said Carmela Gonzalez, environmental protection specialist. This included researching the technology, ordering the parts and setting up the equipment. So far, it is working without problems.
"One reason this is an important project," said Gonzalez, "is if we can prove the technology is worth the $2,500 price tag, and that it is reliable, we can improve the habitat for the desert tortoise and get them to migrate away from the rifle range."
To do this, the same basic setup would be created in an area farther away from the rifle range, but on a larger scale. In addition, the environmental division would use the solar water system to hydrate different bushes and plants under which the desert tortoise digs its home. This will also create a more abundant food supply for the tortoise, and other creatures, by allowing plants to grow more abundantly and stronger with the added water. By creating a friendlier habitat farther from the rifle range, the animals will naturally migrate away from it, said Gonzalez. This gets the tortoise out of the way of Marines training which makes life easier on the Marines and safer for the tortoise.