Why do they keep watering the heck out of the school lawns? I see the sprinklers going off even while it’s raining. I thought the school district was out of money, and they’re watering in the rain?

Thanks for asking. First let me say that, for decades now, the Eau Claire Area School District has been the best big buddy a museum could have, and I’m a little leery of fanning any rhetorical fires (which, I suppose, they could put out with their in-ground sprinklers).

The ECASD operates 20 school buildings, an administration building, and a service center. Occupied facilities (the district also has some unoccupied ones) sit on nearly 400 acres of grounds.

At least a few of the elementary schools don’t have any irrigation systems to speak of (Sherman, Putnam Heights, Roosevelt). Maybe a tap on an outside wall. At the other end of the spectrum, the district irrigates all green spaces (landscaping and athletic fields) at the high schools. In between, it depends on the date of the school or at least the last “facility upgrade.” So the newer ones, yes: Meadowview, Northwoods, Lakeshore. Sam Davey, surprisingly, yes. Don’t know if it’s related, but Sam Davey had a major update in 2005. Among the middle schools: Northstar, yes; Delong and South, partly.

The district spends about $90,000 a year on water, which as far as I know includes everything from drinking fountains to soccer fields. That’s a lot of green, but only two-tenths of 1 percent of a $50 million budget. And, assuming irrigation is only a percentage of that – folks also flush toilets and wash dishes in the cafeterias – then a $90K total is maybe not outrageous serving 10,000 enrolled kids, running boilers for 20 buildings, and watering, what, maybe 50 acres of grass. The school district pays the city. Yes, I know, it seems like it should all be the same budget, but.

More judicious watering could probably save a few grand a year. Furthermore, there’s this: having your irrigation system water lawns in the rain seems like really bad PR, especially when the ECASD is “coming up with proposals to address the financial challenges,” as they so delicately put it.

Do the lawns need watering during summer vacation? Apparently the cemeteries don’t. (And Forest Hill is looking good so far.) (And unless things go Dust Bowl, grass goes dormant, doesn’t really die.) Plus, think of it this way: it might be the green alternative not to be so green.

Does the irrigation need to be engaged automatically? Or could a real person turn the spigot when the forecast says dry weather? Surely somebody at each school has cable TV at home. The Weather Channel: 59.

Tubing down the river seems more popular every year. Do you know when the first river float took place around here?

The world’s first pneumatic tire rolled off the line in 1890. So then I’m thinking, hot summer day, 1890, keg of Leinie’s … All I can offer are two local facts. A teenage girl drowned in Dells Pond July 1918; she and a friend had been floating on an inner tube. One conclusion: people were tubing. As a continuous organized effort? FATFAR (Frenchtown Annual Tube Float & Regatta), which nowadays looses 5,000 Loopy citizens on the mighty Chip, has been going since about 1980. Sooooo much smaller — but nevertheless older — The Eau Claire River Float Trip hasn’t missed a year since 1973.

     Got a local question? Send it (17 S. Barstow St.) or email it (mail@volumeone.org) and Frank will answer it!  Frank has lived in Eau Claire for most of the past 41 years. He is an editor and researcher at the Chippewa Valley Museum, which is open all year just beyond the Paul Bunyan Camp Museum in beautiful Carson Park. You should go there.