120 replies to this topic

[ducky]

Here are the two images. See how Folsom fluctuates (averaging approx 900 cfs over a day)... and how Nimbus remains relatively constant. Shasta works similar with Keswick the afterbay.

I didn't realize that's the way it worked. So when I'm driving across the Howe Avenue Bridge and see the river really high it's actually a water release coming from Lake Natoma and not necessarily water released from Folsom Lake that day?

[DrKoz23]

I didn't realize that's the way it worked. So when I'm driving across the Howe Avenue Bridge and see the river really high it's actually a water release coming from Lake Natoma and not necessarily water released from Folsom Lake that day?

To put it simply... the daily volume leaving Folsom does match the daily volume leaving Lake Natoma... one is just at a variable rate whereas the other is at a more constant rate. That's why there isn't much of a fluctuation downstream on the American River... because of the more constant releases from Lake Natoma. Only scheduled release changes (up or down) will cause a rise or fall of the river.

[FolsomResident2002]

What is the benefit from only watering a lawn once of twice a week in the heat of summer? I shut my sprinklers off in October and don't plan to turn them on until it gets warm. I've also thought about putting in "fake" grass in the backyard because it is so shady the quality of grass is poor anyway. Anyone have a good source for good looking, fake grass? If I ever get a tax refund I could use this and then save water for just the plants that are on drip and the grass in the front.

This came from the City of Folsom Website.

C.Stage 3--Water Warning.
1.Water shall be used for beneficial uses; all unnecessary and wasteful uses of water are prohibited.

2.Water shall be confined to the customer's property and shall not be allowed to run off to adjoining property or to the roadside ditch or gutter. Care shall be taken not to water past the point of saturation.

3.Prohibit free-flowing hoses for all uses including vehicle and equipment washing, ponds, evaporative coolers and livestock watering troughs. Attach automatic shut-off devices on any hose or filling apparatus in use.

4.Leaking customer pipes or faulty sprinklers shall be repaired within 5 days or less if warranted by the severity of the problem.

5.All pools, spas and ornamental fountains/ponds shall be equipped with a recirculating pump and shall be constructed to be leakproof. Pool draining and refilling shall be allowed only for health, maintenance or structural considerations. Customer requests must be substantiated in writing by a pool consultant and approved by the city.

6.Landscape and pasture irrigation shall be limited to a maximum of 2 days per week when necessary based on the following odd-even schedule.

a.Customers with street addresses that end with an odd number may irrigate only on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

b.Customers with street addressed that end with an even number may irrigate only on Wednesdays and Sundays.

c.No irrigation is permitted on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.

7.Automatic sprinkler system timers shall be set to operate during off-peak hours between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m.

8.Prohibit washing of streets, parking lots, driveways, sidewalks or buildings except as necessary for health, sanitary or fire protection purposes.

9.Restaurants shall serve water only upon specific request.

10.Hand and manual watering follows the same odd/even day schedule and may be done anytime during the cool parts of the day.

11.Homes equipped with drip systems may water using that drip system every day as long as there is no water runoff from the property.

12.Middle of the road landscapes (medians) are to be watered under the even schedule. No water shall over-shoot the planted areas or run off.

D.Stage 4--Water Crisis.

1.Water shall be used for beneficial uses; all unnecessary and wasteful uses of water are prohibited.

2.Water shall be confined to the customer's property and shall not be allowed to run off to adjoining property or to the roadside ditch or gutter. Care shall be taken not to water past the point of saturation.

3.Prohibit free-flowing hoses for all uses including vehicle and equipment washing, ponds, evaporative coolers and livestock watering troughs. Attach automatic shut-off devices on any hose or filling apparatus in use.

4.Leaking customer pipes or faulty sprinklers shall be repaired within 5 days or less if warranted by the severity of the problem.

5.All pools, spas, and ornamental fountains/ponds shall be equipped with a recirculating pump and shall be constructed to be leakproof. Pool draining and refilling shall be allowed only for health, maintenance or structural considerations. Customer requests must be substantiated in writing by a pool consultant and approved by the city.

6.Landscape and pasture irrigation shall be limited to a maximum of 1 day per week when necessary based on the following odd-even schedule.

a.Customers with street addresses that end with an odd number may irrigate only on Saturdays.

b.Customers with street addresses that end with an even number may irrigate only on Sundays.

c.No irrigation is permitted on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

7.Automatic sprinkler system timers shall be set to operate during off-peak hours between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m.

8.Prohibit washing of streets, parking lots, driveways, sidewalks or buildings except as necessary for health, sanitary or fire protection purposes.

9.Restaurants shall serve water only upon specific request.

10.No water from the city's system shall be used to fill or refill new swimming pools, artificial lakes, ponds or streams until the water crisis has been declared over.

11.Prohibit water use for ornamental ponds and fountains.

12.Washing of automobiles or equipment shall be done on the lawn or at a commercial establishment that uses recycled or reclaimed water.

13.No water from the city's system shall be used for construction purposes such as dust control, compaction, or trench jetting.

14.Hand and manual watering follows the same odd/even day schedule and may be done anytime during the cool parts of the day.

15.Homes equipped with drip systems may water using that drip system every day as long as there is no water runoff from the property.

16.Middle of the road landscapes (medians) are to be watered under the even schedule. No water shall over-shoot the planted areas or run off.

There's a Stage 5, too, called "Water Emergency."

Time to get out the rain barrels.

[eVader]

You should install an undersink instant hot water dispenser. We can do that for you!

Jeff

I wish we had a tankless instant hot water system like hotels. Turn the taps in bathroom, kitchen and you have immediate hot water because with our early 90s home it takes at least a minute or more to get hot water. What a waste unless you fill up a bucket like Chef to use elsewhere and I would be surprised if it doesn't happen to most homes.

Instead of the instant hot water spigot added to a sink as you describe above would a tankless hot water system work in an existing home (retrofit)?

Why doesnt the building codes require use of tankless systems to reduce wasting water waiting for hot water to get to the tap?

If a tankless system isnt can't be retrofitted to existing homes, is a whole house recirculation system a good option?

[Darth Lefty]

Delta smelt is the only fish living in the waterway between Folsom and the ocean? Wow, who knew?

Before man controlled river flows, we didn't have a lake in Folsom to worry about getting low. Before man controlled river flows, we didn't live where there wasn't enough water to support us. Before man controlled river flows, dams were made by beavers!

Before man controlled river flows, we followed mammoths around and drove them off cliffs because stabbing them was too hard, and you stayed the hell away from rivers if you didn't want to be eaten by a crocodile. Our way of life is founded on water works, to a much greater extent than, say, electric power or communications. Ponder this the next few times you flush!

[Darth Lefty]

I wish we had a tankless instant hot water system like hotels.

Careful what you wish for!

http://www.errant-ro...u... - Copy.JPG

[Bill Z]

Delta smelt is the only fish living in the waterway between Folsom and the ocean? Wow, who knew?

Before man controlled river flows, we didn't have a lake in Folsom to worry about getting low. Before man controlled river flows, we didn't live where there wasn't enough water to support us. Before man controlled river flows, dams were made by beavers!

I didn't say they were the only species, but they are the species I always hear environmentalists talking about, especially when it comes to keeping the fresh water flow into to the delta. Salmon come from fresh water, go live in salt water and return to fresh water, so saline levels in the delta don't mean squat to them. Their declining numbers have nothing to do with water releases.

[tgianco]

I've also thought about putting in "fake" grass in the backyard because it is so shady the quality of grass is poor anyway. Anyone have a good source for good looking, fake grass? If I ever get a tax refund I could use this and then save water for just the plants that are on drip and the grass in the front.

When I re-landscaped my backyard a couple of years ago, I looked into the fake grass (have loved playing soccer on it over at Kemp and the Sports Complex), but it was VERY expensive.

For a pretty small patch in the backyard (about 900 feet), I was quoted $18k by a company out of Vacaville. If you wanted to do it on your own, you can go over to SynLawn in Roseville (assuming it's still open) and do the same for more in the neighborhood of $6k-$8k.

When the guy came out, he did mention that you would want to keep your sprinklers and run them about once every two weeks or so to essentially "wash" the fake grass, especially if you have dogs, cats or any animals that come through your yard that might use it to relieve themselves.

Eventually, we'll probably all have to switch to something like the fake grass, but more than likely we'll move to xeriscaping.

[Wolf]

I hope Mr. Miklos takes this stage 3 situation, and the fact there's a serious drought, into consideration when discussing any and all future south of 50 development - the cold hard fact that is not enough water for Folsom let alone any new developments south of 50, should cease all discussions.

We are going to supply the water for the Easton developement. www.easton-ca.com
A joint land deal between Folsom, Aeroget and Rancho Cordova. The Hillsborough community is in the SOI but never talked about to the residents cause it is mostly in Rancho. This does not include the water being pumped from the Folsom South Canal to the aquaducts via the EBMUD tap in plant in Folsom. We supply water to Aerojet currently...treated and untreated. I truly can't believe we will have any water shortly. If we keep our water here, we will be the oasis people flock to while others less fortunate areas wither and Folsom flourishes.

[eVader]

Careful what you wish for!

http://www.errant-ro...u... - Copy.JPG

what is that?

[ducky]

what is that?

I have no idea what darthlefty's picture is of, but I have a tankless water heater. It doesn't supply instant hot water. The benefit of it is it's not constantly running to keep water sitting in a container warm. It also means that the hot water never runs out. The pipes still need to run from the tankless heater to wherever the faucet is and takes some time to run out the cold water.

[Darth Lefty]

what is that?

From a South America ride report I've been following, it's a heated shower head in (I think it was) Peru.

[cw68]

I didn't say they were the only species, but they are the species I always hear environmentalists talking about, especially when it comes to keeping the fresh water flow into to the delta. Salmon come from fresh water, go live in salt water and return to fresh water, so saline levels in the delta don't mean squat to them. Their declining numbers have nothing to do with water releases.

Their declining numbers have, like DrKoz, have everything to do with water temperatures which are massively affected by water releases.

But there are more than just these two fish. There is a myriad of other fishes and other aquatic life that need the river to survive. We can't just capture all the water from the mountains and not let it flow down as nature intended. I'm not a big fan of the damn and lake as it is; I have this crazy theory that Mother Nature actually knows what she's doing and all we do is keep screwing it up!

[cw68]

I wish we had a tankless instant hot water system like hotels. Turn the taps in bathroom, kitchen and you have immediate hot water because with our early 90s home it takes at least a minute or more to get hot water. What a waste unless you fill up a bucket like Chef to use elsewhere and I would be surprised if it doesn't happen to most homes.

Instead of the instant hot water spigot added to a sink as you describe above would a tankless hot water system work in an existing home (retrofit)?

Why doesnt the building codes require use of tankless systems to reduce wasting water waiting for hot water to get to the tap?

If a tankless system isnt can't be retrofitted to existing homes, is a whole house recirculation system a good option?

Tankless water heaters can be retrofitted into to existing homes. I had one put into one of homes, a home that was built in 1941. It's not cheap because you have to change out the ducting to high-heat resistant stainless steel as the unit pumped something like 15k BTU. It's not instant heat, however, and I found it took longer than the traditional water heater to get hot water to my tap. My tankless cost twice as much as a traditional water heater but I loved it and it was well worth the purchase (it actually helped sell the home too, the new owner loved all the "green" stuff we did and it sold in four days and this wasn't when the market was hot).

I did find myself using less hot water, though, because the tankless unit was right off of the kitchen and I could hear it fire up every time I used my left hand to turn on the hot water to wash my dirty right hand (I'm right handed). I just naturally reached with my clean hand to turn the tap, or when my right hand held something. That's a bad habit I don't do still.

As for codes, it's all politics. Five years ago I wrote my representatives at the local, state and nat'l level suggesting that all new homes include dual-flush toilets. I received only two letter back both telling me that new legislation worded as such would be difficult, at best, to pass.

[Bill Z]

Their declining numbers have, like DrKoz, have everything to do with water temperatures which are massively affected by water releases.

But there are more than just these two fish. There is a myriad of other fishes and other aquatic life that need the river to survive. We can't just capture all the water from the mountains and not let it flow down as nature intended. I'm not a big fan of the damn and lake as it is; I have this crazy theory that Mother Nature actually knows what she's doing and all we do is keep screwing it up!

I can't argue with that, except, one way or another, Mother Nature will eventually win.

The Universe will prevail !!!