85 replies to this topic

[Chad Vander Veen]

On one hand I want to say F*** the Water Alert, F*** SoCal (my home, BTW) and F*** the agencies "in charge" of Folsom's water. On the other hand you don't need to shower everyday or irrigate everyday. And a healthy Delta is important.

And my parents didn't even have feet to walk to school on, they had bloody stumps and had to walk through a broken glass factory and a salt factory on the way to their open air school.

[melloguy]

I don't claim to be a water expert or scientist...

Thanks for the intro Robert, because I can claim both.

Just several quick hits - Most of the delta was marsh land until the gold rush. The levees were built, poorly, to reclaim the land for farming. Given the high peat content from the marshes, most delta islands are well below sea level from oxidizing the peat and if the levees were to collapse, salt would intrude much further than it was originally. Salt is now not as far inland as historically but does creep further inland, particularly when SoCal is blasting their pumps. Bad for native fish, good for invasive species.

Early 2000s, SoCal had to decrase its pumping from the Colorado River. It had been overpumping for decades using other states' water, but as these other places overbuilt (Vegas, Phoenix, etc.), they needed the water and it was no longer available to SoCal. They replaced this water by increasing pumping of the delta.

Folsom residents use about 0.5 acre feet of water per person. This is triple the normal usage in CA and about what a family of four uses in SoCal. Forget about the extra showers - it's the landscaping that drinks all the water.

Desalinization - very high energy requirements. Best suited near a cheap energy plant (think nuke) on the coast. Nuke not happening here anytime soon.

[Bill Z]

Desalinization - very high energy requirements. Best suited near a cheap energy plant (think nuke) on the coast. Nuke not happening here anytime soon.

And unfortunately, that is the sad truth. Where is Obama's change when & where we need it?

[Redone]

Question to everyone.

It might be my imagination, but I seem to have noticed our water pressure going down a little over the last few months. Not that I mind, but could the city be limiting our usage this way? I've also noticed some air in the lines as well.

As the lake goes down, the top of the lake gets closer to the outlet lowering the head pressure.

http://www.irrigatio...sprinkler11.htm

Most houses have pressure regulators at meter or at main riser. If the lake level fell enough it could go below what the regulator is set at.

[Bill Z]

As the lake goes down, the top of the lake gets closer to the outlet lowering the head pressure.

http://www.irrigatio...sprinkler11.htm

Most houses have pressure regulators at meter or at main riser. If the lake level fell enough it could go below what the regulator is set at.

Maybe you haven't noticed, but the lake has been rising during this period of dropping water pressure.

[Robert Giacometti]

Growing up pretty spoiled in the suburbs of Chicago in the 70s, I found the tales of their childhoods mesmerizing. What a different life and it definitely makes me grateful for so many things. While I used to think they were weird and off their rocker, as I get older I see the value in what they do. Keeping a bucket in the tub to catch the water running from the spout as it turns warm and using that water to water the plants isn't dumb.

It's like they say, "Waste not, want not."

Its great to see parents instilling values into their children and being such great stewards of our environment. Weren't your parents Republicans?

[Baldguy]

From what I understand, Folsom is used first to flush the delta as it takes 1 day for the released water to reach the delta vs the 4 days it takes a release from Shasta or Oroville, I don't think it has to do with a lakes capacity.

I think we can forget Folsom lake being used for boating or other recreation from now on. It will be empty by July for sure.

[cw68]

Its great to see parents instilling values into their children and being such great stewards of our environment. Weren't your parents Republicans?

Yep and they like to remind me that old-school Republicans are the real conservatives because they conserved money AND resources. That's something they don't think new-school Republicans do so they are now registered independents.

[cw68]

Folsom residents use about 0.5 acre feet of water per person. This is triple the normal usage in CA and about what a family of four uses in SoCal. Forget about the extra showers - it's the landscaping that drinks all the water.

That's a problem each and everyone of us can address. We can ALL lower our water usage.

[ducky]

Thanks for the intro Robert, because I can claim both.


Folsom residents use about 0.5 acre feet of water per person. This is triple the normal usage in CA and about what a family of four uses in SoCal. Forget about the extra showers - it's the landscaping that drinks all the water.

What is the source of this figure? I keep seeing it thrown around, but no one can seem to say how it was arrived at. That would mean the average household in Folsom, which according to Wikipedia is 2.61, would use 425,234.25 gallons per year. The average family is listed as 3.08, so if you use that it would be 501,809 gallons per year.

As of 2007, Folsom's population was listed at 70,835. If you use the lower figure of 425,234.25 gallons and turn it into acre feet (1.305) it is approximately 92,439 acre feet. I'm not exactly a math whiz, so I'm I must be doing something wrong, but that figure doesn't look like it could possibly be right.

Edit: Oops. I think that actually it would be more like 35,417 acre feet total because I forgot to divide by 2.61. I still think that might be more than the acre feet Folsom has water rights to.

[forumreader]

Thanks for the intro Robert, because I can claim both.

Thanks for posting, melloguy! I was hoping that you'd chime in.

The water ecology, economy and politics in this state are so very complex. Hopefully you will continue to post on this matter to help us average folks comprehend this matter.

Nevertheless, I wholeheartedly agree that we all need to do our part. But not every citizen can afford to pull out their builder-installed front lawn and quickly replace it with a drought-friendly landscape. I suppose that Folsom neighborhoods will begin to look unkempt and somewhat blight-stricken, while our neighbors to the south are irrigated.

It would be nice if the meters already installed were activated sooner rather than later. I would like to be able to monitor my own family's water usage.

[cw68]

Its great to see parents instilling values into their children and being such great stewards of our environment. Weren't your parents Republicans?

Hey, I've been meaning to ask, why did you bring up political parties? Making sure that divide stays strong and really does rip our country apart?

[Bill Z]

It would be nice if the meters already installed were activated sooner rather than later. I would like to be able to monitor my own family's water usage.

You don't have to wait for the city to read your meter. If you really want to monitor your own usage, go read the meter yourself. If it's like mine, you probably need to clean the dirt off the glass window first, but it's pretty easy to read.

[forumreader]

Thanks! Clearly one of those "duh" moments. I don't need the city to spoon feed the data to me.

[Robert Giacometti]

Hey, I've been meaning to ask, why did you bring up political parties? Making sure that divide stays strong and really does rip our country apart?

Contrary to what you wrote, it wasn't to divide people. I wasn't comparing one group as being better or worse than another group? That is divisive.

It was to remind people that REPS can be concerned about the stewardship of the Earths resources and my perceptions of "conservatives" as a political philosophy, do what your parents did.

If we can just get our politicians to conserve our tax dollars, with the same vigor that your parents exhibited with saving a natural resource, in my mind we all will be better off!