Conservation Efforts

[Ulu]

I didn't know it was a song.

[T120]

....Just messing with you - and perhaps showing my age.

[Dave72dt]

Aaaah..."The Shifting Whispering Sands"...

Reminds me of some old Zane Grey novels.  Grew up reading those.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Zane Grey..got a plenty of his book in hardbound...were my dad's...he is no Louis L'amour

[Ulu]

Well, the system is working, and my lawn is surviving on minimal water. So far.

 

I'm catching some of the shower water, and that's going in the cistern too, but I need to mod my shower to make it automatic (read: no buckets.)

 

Once I do that I'll have another 25 gals a day which I can put on my back lawn. Right now I'm only catching about 8 gals of that.

 

Dishwasher? Hmmmm...I'm not sure it uses that much water, but it'd be the easiest to plumb to the outside.

 

With just a little effort I think I can save all my trees and shrubs, & most of the grass.

[Eneto-55]

I have some old 78s of my Dad's here, and there's one song this discussion has reminded me of.

 

Cool Water - Bob Nolan (Recorded by Sons of the Pioneers)

 

Keep a-movin' Dan
Don't you lis'en to him, Dan
He's a devil not a man
And he spreads the burning sands with water
Dan, can you see
That big green tree
Where the water's runnin' free
And it's waitin' there for me and you?
Cool, clear water (Water!)

 

(I copied the lyrics off of the internet someplace.)

Edited May 7, 2015 by Eneto-55

[T120]

A good one, Eneto.I also have that record.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Ralph D25cpe

[Don Coatney]

Sons of the Pioneers.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDtCa8ZgAk4

[DJ194950]

Latest Water Rules for my city received this week.

 

I believe we may be a year or two late.     

 

[TodFitch]

I haven't see the same for our area yet, but one of the restrictions in the image you posted would actually increase the amount of outdoor water I use: I've got one zone on a once in eight day schedule and I'd have to move that to a once in seven days to keep the area alive and meet the letter but not the intent of the rule.

 

Thinking of recycling/reuse items: I have a friend in Santa Barbara which is not on the state water system. Twenty or more years ago their local reservoirs went empty and the put in lots of restrictions including car washing. But my friends were keeping their car exterior very clean so I asked how. Turns out they saved the wash and rinse water from the clothes washer into buckets and used that.

 

Last year I looked into waterless car washing products. At that time I learned that Meguires had a product line for waterless car cleaning being sold in Australia but, near as I could tell, not available in the United States. I haven't checked this year, so maybe they are available here now. In the meantime I've found I can do a “good enough for me” exterior cleaning job using a damp microfiber cloth followed up by a dry microfiber cloth. After that I can go over the car with pretty standard car detailing products (and a lot more microfiber clothes) to get the car looking very presentable. So most of the water used to clean the car is actually water used in the front load clothes washer to clean the microfiber clothes after the car is clean. Not sure if you'd want to use that method for a show car as the first step could scratch the paint if you have gritty dirt you need to deal with.

[ggdad1951]

Tod, I "wash" FEF with only one gallon of water.  One microfiber towel per dunk and wrung out, one swipe (MAYBE 2 if he's relatively clean) with each side.  The one to dry with becomes the next wet one.

[Ulu]

I use spray bottles & rags to wash the cars and motorcycles, but I more often take the truck to a local hand wash place.

 

I wash the boat with a hose, but not lately, as it hasn't been off the trailer in a year now.

 

BTW, it's rained a bit more today, thank Heaven! & I see the news this AM filled with storms and tornadoes east of the Rockies. Texas is certainly getting pummeled.

 

Not here though. We got some gentle rains and a bit of snow is falling on the peaks. There was a small hail but no more.  

 

2 more cisterns are in the works for me. If the lawn dies I'll re-sod someday, but if my trees die I'll be very sad.  I have a shower & dishwasher pouring water down the sewer so I've got to get that dishwasher and shower plumbed to the back lawns now!

 

I don't think I can replace 100% of the water I was using on the lawns & trees, but what I can do will save us some real cash in the long run. If the drought continues, water prices will just go up and up here.

 

Starbucks gets their "Ethos" bottled water from Modesto CA city water, but too $$$ & so is switching to Pennsylvania where they can't give it away fast enough today.

The price will not reduce however. There's all that shipping you know.

 

(Disclaimer: I don't care about Starbucks & I don't go to Starbucks & in fact I don't drink coffee at all.  I switched to tea about 10 years ago.)

[Ulu]

I did a prelim test of the dishwasher/cistern #2 system last night. The dishwasher appears to deliver about 8 to 9 gallons with a normal load. That's a lot less than the clothes washer (14 gals on a jumbo load) so that may be just 30~40 gals a week from the dishes. It'll be a bit more when I plumb the left side of the sink to the cistern too.

 

The dishwasher pump will lift water 6 feet, so the back cistern is going to get elevated a bit to help create some water pressure.

[Ulu]

OK the Kitchen cistern is in and working, so now on to the shower.

 

I haven't decided how to plumb this shower cistern yet, but I want to build a Japanese style soaking tub in situ from concrete & tile.

 

I'll elevate it a tad to avoid digging up my slab, and it'll have to have a step as my wife is kinda short.

 

I think I'll drain it by gravity siphon to an underground tank, to avoid having a pump in the bath. I'll put a cheap sump pump in the tank to bring the water up to an elevated cistern. I'm going to build a tool shed in the back yard, and I may put it right over the underground tank, with a trap door or such for access.

 

Geeeze...at this rate I may never get back to the P-15.  

[DJ194950]

Ulu,

 

You're going to also make a large sign to put up in your front yard to explain why all your plants and lawn are very green or you will have to constantly explain to the city water employees and your neighbors that you are Not wasting our precious water! 

 

Good work!

[Ulu]

Yes, there's going to be some "green envy", or "green shame" as they call it in a drought!

 

As long as my meter has the right numbers, the city will not care.

 

I'm kinda off the beaten track, so I wont  have to explain to too many.

[deathbound]

Born & raised in So. Cal. & will probably die here too......not from drowning though. We conserve what we can (harder with 2 kids...teen/pre-teen), but if we do go over, I'll gladly pay. Just like gas, more expensive here than just about anywhere in the U.S., again, I'll gladly pay. I doubt California will dry up & blow away....it'll just take a while to come out of this drought. I'm less than 10 minutes from the beach & 1-1/2 hours from the mountains.....it's a no brainer. 

 

Oh yeah, on a side note, we're actually getting a little of that wet stuff right now!

Edited May 15, 2015 by deathbound

[wayfarer]

this is high desert......raining again today...guess the new trees will approve even though I still have the irrigation turned on...

conserve? maybe next year.

 

How is that de-sal plant coming along in SD area? And why hasn't the de-sal plant near SB been brought on line? The estimated selling costs are a whopping 1¢ per gal so what is the real story?

[wayfarer]

Just ran across this info and for those interested in recycling-reusing gray water it may be useful.

http://www.survivopedia.com/reusing-grey-water/?source=newsletter

[P15-D24]

 And why hasn't the de-sal plant near SB been brought on line? The estimated selling costs are a whopping 1¢ per gal so what is the real story?

They are still updating the permits. Expectation is if we have another dry winter it will go into operation early to mid 2016. Our major water reservoir is Cachama and they expect it to stop pumping next year. Cost will be 2 to 3 times the usual water cost. It is capable of supplying 1/3 of needed water for the area. 

[wayfarer]

...good thing that permits were easier to get when all of the major dams were constructed or we'd still be waiting...

[Ulu]

(Put yer muffs on. I'm gonna rant a bit...)

 

It's tough to get things built, and it seems so insane to the average engineer.  

 

The bureaucrats and bean counters and politicians argue and fight and take forever to get off the dime, then they expect us to design something perfect, on a tight budget, and in a big rush. They expect the contractors to build it overnight. They want it to defy the laws of physics and nature too. (Just look at the crazy stuff that gets built nowadays! Oh, sure it's amazing architecture, but is amazement adequate justification?)

 

And it's a tiered system: As you go from the Kindergarten to the University level, the insanity ramps up with the price of the job. We don't do dams and bridges at our office, but it's the same story there, amplified again by the larger price tag of the project.

 

Anyhow, that's not how you build public infrastructure in a sane world, but that's how every public building & public school gets built here in our world. I'll tell you this: 40 years in and around this business I've never seen a public job come in on budget. Never once, and it's because the government can't go out of business.

 

You screw up? You overspent on your offices? New factory cost too much? Your company goes broke? Too bad.

 

But the government will be open from mon to fri, same as usual. They're not closing the doors because the new City Hall was a boondoggle. They'll raise taxes to cover it. They'll rob some other fund to cover the overruns. They'll dance and sing on TV and obfuscate every issue with a slather of emotional drivel. Our government is Barnum & Bailey on steroids.

 

BTW, the huge central high school we've been preparing (in a big rush so it can get in early on the budget cycle merry-go-round) is on hold because the local district can't get their part of the money together. This is not uncommon. The state requires these things to be planned years in advance to avoid this, but nobody knows what money they'll have by then. Will it be enough? Nobody knows. (I know: see above. It's never enough. It always goes over budget.) This means the state won't have to pay out their "matching" portion if the local district fails in the last act.

 

I better stop now. This could go on forever.

 

Anyhow, water will get more expensive. That's a given.

Edited May 19, 2015 by Ulu

[wayfarer]

Ulu, man-o-man do I understand. I actually tried to work in a couple of government sectors as a brand new engineer...just about made me crazy so I didn't last too long.

Then I was blessed with a corporate position in Pulp&Paper;  we quite often did all of the engineering on 'green-field' projects for about 3% of the budget and permits were usually handed to us with a big "Thank You, for spending xxx-millions in our community".

Yes, many many years ago. Now it seems that the enviro-Nazis have too many lawyers in their midst and the city-county-state entity  just keep throwing money at whatever issue is claimed and as you so correctly note they don't care...hell, just raise taxes.

[P15-D24]

Hey guys just a reminder of the site rules, political discussions are not allowed. If you want to rant about government, enviro issues , etc lots of other sites to do that, just not here. 

 

Thank you.

[DonaldSmith]

Gosh, I used to think that everyone thought and felt the way I did about which country is the greatest, which political party is our salvation, and speaking about salvation, ...   So I could profess my views to the acclamation of everyone.  Ain't so.  A lot of diverse views.  Why, some of the people in this forum are from the other side of the world, not to mention the other side of the aisle.  

 

So, it's good to stay within acceptable car, truck and off-topic subjects.  Case in point, it's fascinating to hear of California's water problems and the fixes our members are coming up with, but we should keep the political components between the lines.

 

We're all car nuts, but some of us do not even think the same way about which engine and transmission combinations are the best.  How come everyone wouldn't do things the way I did them?  I guess we should cut each other some slack.