Spring - Summer 2012 - Breitenbush Hot Springs

News From The Circle
by Peter Moore
Vishnu the Preserver and the Breitenbush Reservoir
Breitenbush Hot Springs is all about the water. It’s in our name, it’s in the constancy of the hot
springs and river that pour into and through the land, and its what provides the flow and thermal
dynamics that we use to create electricity, heat and other essential services for ourselves and our guests.
It’s always been all about the water. In October of 1928, five men pressed their hands and
scratched their initials into the wet concrete of their newly completed water reservoir. It was a fine
accomplishment, built into the hilltop above the structure we now call the Breitenbush Office, and
designed to hold some 15,000 gallons of potable water. From that time forward, it became possible to
store clean drinking water pumped from the river, and to gravity-feed that water through a pipeline
distribution system to the cabins and Lodge. This was an essential development in critical infrastructure
allowing the new resort to offer basic modern amenities.
The late 20s/early 30s was a period of profound investment in the facilities and utilities of Breitenbush, introducing
hydroelectricity, new roads, buildings and pools, among others. If they thought about it, the builders of that new reservoir would
probably have doubted their creation would be in use nearly a century later—but it is, as are many of the other installations of that
period (including the original Leffel turbine, which still spins at the bottom of the penstock, powered by the river, and helping us to
create electricity even now).
Currently we use more than 15,000 gallons of water each day for drinking and other purposes, making the 1928 storage
capacity dubiously undersized. Meeting contemporary load demand requires constant pumping. Now, after years of dreaming and
planning, we are building a new water reservoir, just above the site of the original. With a capacity of 186,000 gallons, it will hold
well over a week supply at our current average use rate, in addition to charging the newly installed Lodge sprinkler system.
This new reservoir is designed to hold more than water, for it also holds the key to other essential initiatives: because
it protects all floors of the Lodge via sprinklers, it will allow us to restore that beautiful building to its historic qualities and
occupancy; beyond the Lodge, it will assure fire suppression capability for both structural and wildland fires around the property;
and with ample reserves of clean water, it will allow us to safely wait out turbid, multi-day flood events in the river; finally, because
of its size, it will provide the capacity to support future developments allowed by our Conditional Use Permit. As disparate as these
initiatives are, together they form the basis for both restoration and future development, not to mention essential health & safety.
In essence, we are in a position today similar to that of Merle
Bruckman and his partners during the late 1920s and early 30s, and then
later, Alex Beamer and the early Breitenbush Community of the late 70s.
We are repairing, designing and building infrastructure and utilities that
will serve people for many decades.
If you visit the springs this spring, you may witness this project as
we finish building and then connecting the reservoir to pipelines that
guide water to near & far destinations around the property. There may be
construction activity—not exactly the pristine sight & sound of nature
that one reasonably expects at Breitenbush. But if I may presume to
influence your response, I would wish for you to experience this project
as a physical manifestation of an ancient Vedic principle I studied during
my years in India. Vishnu, Preserver of the World, was an all-pervading
spirit associated with the primeval waters believed to have been
omnipresent before the creation of the universe. Vishnu’s essential nature
was sustainability. To me, the new reservoir represents this concept
beautifully, pre-serving our human need for pure drinking water while
preserving our human environment by the safety that water confers.
Breitenbush is all about the primeval waters, even in our “industrial”
applications.
32 • 503.854.3320