210 replies to this topic

[cw68]

They pulled the last readings in the Sierra yesterday. I haven't heard what the water content totals were, but the place where they draw them usually has 10 feet of snow during this last reading. This year it had 3.

[ducky]

It was 32 percent overall.  39 in the Central Sierra, and I forget what they said the Northern and Southern Sierra was.

[chris v]

Based on the lake elevation being around 410' I do believe the old salmon falls bridge is no longer accessible to cross.

[chris v]

Confirmed my previous post and here is a picture.  The lake looks much better than before, but we still aren't even at 50% capacity.

 

[ducky]

Unbelievable.

 

losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/04/29/cbs2-investigates-south-la-park-proves-major-drain-on-water-taxpayer-money-amid-drought-crisis/

[WolfMom]

Been getting warm out there lately and the water supply is on my mind. I have been working hard at figuring out ways to conserve and reclaim water and thought I would share with folks a few more ways I have been doing it.

 

I now have a little bucket that lives in one side of my kitchen sink. Whenever I rinse off fruits and veggies I let the water run from the produce into the bucket. I then use the water for outside flowers and plants.

 

I have to change the water bowl for my dogs at least once a day as it can get pretty dirty and full of shedding hair, etc. Any water left in the bowl and the water I use to rinse out the bowl before refilling is collected in my little bucket and again used for watering outside.

 

And that, folks, concludes my 500th post on MyFolsom. :D

[Howdy]

With the latest that the city is going to use the water we are saving to give to the S50 development, I am really not interested and concerned about saving water anymore. 

[Steve Heard]

Been getting warm out there lately and the water supply is on my mind. I have been working hard at figuring out ways to conserve and reclaim water and thought I would share with folks a few more ways I have been doing it.

 

I now have a little bucket that lives in one side of my kitchen sink. Whenever I rinse off fruits and veggies I let the water run from the produce into the bucket. I then use the water for outside flowers and plants.

 

I have to change the water bowl for my dogs at least once a day as it can get pretty dirty and full of shedding hair, etc. Any water left in the bowl and the water I use to rinse out the bowl before refilling is collected in my little bucket and again used for watering outside.

 

And that, folks, concludes my 500th post on MyFolsom. :D

 

Thanks for those tips, and congrats on your 500th! You are truly an asset to myfolsom and the Folsom community.  

 

With the latest that the city is going to use the water we are saving to give to the S50 development, I am really not interested and concerned about saving water anymore. 

 

Interesting. I'm trying to get an understanding of this from the folks in City Hall. Do you have something that confirms that?   

 

I've been to several presentations on both the South of 50 project and the water situation, and I've booked the City of Folsom's Water Management Coordinator for next weeks Realtor tour meeting, and perhaps he may be able to shed some light on it.

 

I recall from previous presentations, that the city uses less than 2% of the water in Folsom lake. The rest of what comes out of there goes to various other communities, but the greatest amount is sent down the river to protect the river ecology, agriculture, and to Southern California.

 

Regardless of where it goes or who uses it, conservation is a good thing.   

[FolsomEJ]

Conservation is less meaningful that people say.  Every drop of water you put down your drain ends up available to the river ecology, agriculture and SoCal.

 

It is really hard to make water go away and it is reusable multiple times in the upstream/downstream flow.  There's much less "waste" of water if we are not talking about evaporation.

[WolfMom]

Although there is a valid point to what FolsomEJ said. There is a lot of resources used in processing water before it comes out of our pipes. Also, the act of conserving is also about being mindful and respectful of the resources we have. We live in an arid region. Our access to clean water is a blessing so many millions of people do not have and they get sick and die because of it. I honor the gift of clean water by being very conscious of how I use it. There could be a future where the very people watering their sidewalks will be begging for clean water later.

[FolsomEJ]

WolfMom - I agree.  My point is that conservation in outdoor watering during drought years is prudent and thoughtful.  Conserving indoor water is false conservation and isn't really contributing to a solution.

 

As for processing, they design processing to support normal water year loads.  I don't see how conserving indoor usage makes a real difference if we are an upstream discharging community for all other downstream uses.

My belief is that this is too nuanced a message for TV and other forms of communications, so they simplify the message to "conserve water."

[cw68]

Conserving indoor water is false conservation and isn't really contributing to a solution.
 

Please explain this further. If I am reducing the amount of treated water that is being delivered to my house, that's conserving. If I collect the water used waiting for the shower to heat up and use that to flush my toilet, additional water isn't being drawn to flush the toilet.

[FolsomEJ]

If you fill a bucket with 1 gallon of water and then dump it down the drain, if goes from the river, to the treatment plant, to your house, out your drain, to the sewer, to sewer treatment, to the river.

 

If you don't fill a bucket with 1 gallon of water, that gallon of water flows down the river.

 

Water is not destroyed or consumed (except by evaporation losses) by diverting it into your home.

[WolfMom]

I agree that a huge culprit is our landscaping, especially how after just a minute of watering the water just runs right off of the top of many lawns and into the gutter.

 

I persist in asking, does clean water magically appear in our homes with no energy/resources used to gather, direct, pump and purify? I doubt that that one gallon of water that came into our homes is a gallon going out. There is a % of loss no matter what we do. With mass consumption that percentage loss makes an impact. (Just look at how banks use that half penny skim off of your accounts to make millions.)

 

That gallon of "free" water (which we are now charged for anyway) is not free. Where are we getting this water from to divert it to our ever increasing (South of 50 included) homes? How much energy/power/treatment chemicals/etc. are we using for the millions of gallons we pump? You lose energy when you generate energy, you lose energy, materials and water when you "generate" potable water.

 

Inquiring minds want to know... I may have incorrect misconceptions of where our water source originates. Let me take a couple steps back from what I think I know about where our water comes from and ask from a "blank-slate" perspective: Do we get our (Folsom) water from a lake or a river? If it is the lake does the water I drain go right back into the lake or does it go downstream? If it is from the river, does my drained water go downstream or come right back to me?  Are our rivers giant donuts of recycling water?

 

If all other discussion fails, at least I like how much my water bill has dropped and I personally feel better about consciously respecting the energy used to produce this potable water and respecting the sources we take from.

[Chad Vander Veen]

“Rarely does a resident of any of the world’s great metropolitan areas pause to consider the complexity of urban life or the myriad systems that operate around the clock to support it.” Kate Ascher in her book Anatomy of a City.