27 replies to this topic

[Dave Burrell]

Yesterday's new water restriction announcement was a complete farce. There was nothing new that isn't being done already. Seemed that was just some kind of lame publicity stunt to feign caring about the water issue at hand in our state.

 

Here are some better solutions:  (source)

 

After confronting the truth that we have only one year of water left, California passed new water restrictions today which are WIMPY AS HELL. Here, California, I fixed them for you.

 

Admittedly, the impact of these restrictions is lessened because many of the state's cities already have their own water restrictions. But even where the new mandates have good intentions, like restricting landscaping irrigation to two days a week or waiting until 48 hours after measurable rainfall before watering, they still fall painfully short. And some are just laughable. Restaurants can only provide water "on request"? Hotels should "offer" guests the option of not having their towels washed daily? I'm sorry, if you require more than one towel during the average hotel stay you probably shouldn't be allowed to stay in said hotel.

 

Let's get real. Here's what California needs to do now.

 

Kill all lawns

 

It is time for California to join the decent people in the rest of the Western United States, where residents have the sense to let their lawns go dormant during the dry season. When the water that falls from the sky is not enough to perpetuate your yard's emerald hue, it is not okay to spew your hose upon it for hours at a time. Stop watering your lawn. It will come back when it rains.

 

That includes golf courses

 

Any green space which was not expressly created for the public's use and well-being should also be required to "brown out." That means golf courses, corporate campuses. Exempt: Parks, schools. Cemeteries are allowed to paint the brown grass green.

 

And also car washes

 

What if a car wash was prohibitively expensive in the way that gas prices sometimes are? You wouldn't drive your car, right? You might not even own a car, right? Solves several problems at once.

 

Require cities to landscape with native plants

 

Even more effective than asking cities to cut back on watering public landscaping is requiring them to use native, drought-tolerant plants in the first place. City landscapers can pass along their wisdom to the public through workshops at neighborhood plant stores.

 

Implement lawn "buy back" programs

 

If the state really wants to get serious about changing the conversation around the drought it needs to pay people to make the change. Los Angeles already has a successful program which offers $3.75 per square foot for people who choose to replace their lawns with drought-tolerant plants. There is no reason why this can't be implemented across the state to foster real change.

 

Ban the bottling of water in the state

 

Because bottled water is BULLs---. But also because most of the bottled water in the US comes from the places in California experiencing the worst drought.

 

Mandate enforcement of water restrictions

 

The biggest problem with these restrictions is that most of these restrictions carry no penalties whatsoever. There are fines, maybe, but no one reports the offenders, and no one follows up from the city. Wait, cities don't have the manpower to send the water police out in force? That's why we need to...

 

Launch a #waterhog campaign

 

See a green lawn? #waterhog Notice a business with sprinklers on? #waterhog Catch someone spraying down their Lexus? #waterhog Geotagged, hashtagged social media posts would not only file an official complaint with the state which could be followed up with a fine, like a 311 report does in many cities, but they also publicly shame the offender.

 

Appoint a water czar

 

California, land of celebrities who are using their large numbers of Instagram followers to promote caffeinated booze: Why hasn't a big name taken on this cause? Perhaps because most of them are too busy trucking in water for their own lawns? Jerry Brown needs a high-profile celebrity to deliver some real talk about the drought by posting overshare-y "if it's yellow let it mellow" videos to Snapchat.

 

Assemble a tech task force

 

Where is the Hyperloop for water? Why aren't there more desalination startups? Who is promoting dietary alternatives to meat and almonds and all the other resource-sucking foods which are parching the Central Valley? We have no shortage of people who are working every day to tackle stunningly brilliant solutions to the world's problems. Let's get them working on the biggest issue the state has ever confronted. Plus there's plenty of opportunity for tech companies to recoup some of their intellectual capital. For example, Google could simply repurpose its entire Glass team as Google Glass (of Water), and help envision a better, brighter future for California.

[Sandman]

I was under the impression most if not all car washes these days recycle their water???

[nomad]

Desalinization plants are awfully expensive and they need energy to operate so you don't just get clean water for free. They also produce quite a bit of waste and that has to go someplace. One of these plants in San Diego took 15 years to build, cost billions, and it only supplies enough water for about 20,000 homes and the algae waste they are dumping back into the ocean is creating some issues. 

[ducky]

Hey, Dave.   Since you travel, maybe you could check this out.  Dasani and Aquafina both say the water they bottle from tap water stays in the state, but I've read that someone was in Seattle at an airport and bought a bottle of Dasani,I think it was, and the label said it was bottled here.  Next time you or anyone else that travels outside of California, maybe check it out.  Nestle bottles on a reservation in So. Cal. so they don't have to disclose how much groundwater they are using.  Yes, people need to drink water, but it doesn't seem brilliant to import more people while exporting water at the same time.

 

All the restrictions the state passed yesterday seem like they are already in effect - no water at restaurants unless requested, signs in hotel rooms about the towels and linens, no gutter flooding and landscape watering restrictions to certain days.  There was absolutely no mention of more water storage.

[supermom]

Im tired of all the nanification of the state. 

If I want to park my car on my lawn and wash my car, then i durned well am gonna do it. 

I have horrible allergies. I am absolutely going to continue to wash down my garage floor and driveway near the house door. Especially after a windy day.

I absolutely am going to leave water out for the birds

I pay for water delivery at my house. It is worth it. There is less chlorine and fluoride in bottled water and the amounts are consistent. Not so much with san juan water. 

I take all my laundry to a laundry service. The water is recyled.

I hooked up a gray water tank to my shower drain and use plant friendly soaps. My shower water is cleaned through a recycle trap and fed out to the tree line on my property. 

Sewage is the only water that is wasted in my house. 

 

So no way in shish-ka-bob am i gonna stop watering down the driveway in front of my front door. 

[ducky]

Im tired of all the nanification of the state. 

If I want to park my car on my lawn and wash my car, then i durned well am gonna do it. 

I have horrible allergies. I am absolutely going to continue to wash down my garage floor and driveway near the house door. Especially after a windy day.

I absolutely am going to leave water out for the birds

I pay for water delivery at my house. It is worth it. There is less chlorine and fluoride in bottled water and the amounts are consistent. Not so much with san juan water. 

I take all my laundry to a laundry service. The water is recyled.

I hooked up a gray water tank to my shower drain and use plant friendly soaps. My shower water is cleaned through a recycle trap and fed out to the tree line on my property. 

Sewage is the only water that is wasted in my house. 

 

So no way in shish-ka-bob am i gonna stop watering down the driveway in front of my front door. 

 

You can get Flonase over the counter now.  It might help for those times you have to leave the house and be on sidewalks like mine that don't get washed down unless it involves a health/sanitary type of issue.

[Dave Burrell]

I was under the impression most if not all car washes these days recycle their water???

 

I would think so? 

[Dave Burrell]

Desalinization plants are awfully expensive and they need energy to operate so you don't just get clean water for free. They also produce quite a bit of waste and that has to go someplace. One of these plants in San Diego took 15 years to build, cost billions, and it only supplies enough water for about 20,000 homes and the algae waste they are dumping back into the ocean is creating some issues. 

 

Saw something about the cost being around $55 million to build a desalinization plant. That sounds expensive until you realize that the proposed bullet train is going to cost $56 million PER mile.

[nomad]

I have this goofball neighbor that washes down his patio, side of his house, and drive way every weekend, With a power spray washer. He even sprays his trees to clean them or something. I guess people are too lazy these days to use a broom.

[ducky]

I have this goofball neighbor that washes down his patio, side of his house, and drive way every weekend, With a power spray washer. He even sprays his trees to clean them or something. I guess people are too lazy these days to use a broom.

 

I could see the need for that if you were going to paint your house or seal your driveway.  Power washers actually use less water than a hose, but I don't see the need for using water at all for routine cleaning.  A broom for porches and walkways or outdoor vac for cobwebs works just fine.

[Dave Burrell]

Hey, Dave.   Since you travel, maybe you could check this out.  Dasani and Aquafina both say the water they bottle from tap water stays in the state, but I've read that someone was in Seattle at an airport and bought a bottle of Dasani,I think it was, and the label said it was bottled here.  Next time you or anyone else that travels outside of California, maybe check it out.  Nestle bottles on a reservation in So. Cal. so they don't have to disclose how much groundwater they are using.  Yes, people need to drink water, but it doesn't seem brilliant to import more people while exporting water at the same time.

 

All the restrictions the state passed yesterday seem like they are already in effect - no water at restaurants unless requested, signs in hotel rooms about the towels and linens, no gutter flooding and landscape watering restrictions to certain days.  There was absolutely no mention of more water storage.

 

I've seen both those waters at many of the airports I've been to all over the USA. I'll take a look next time to see where they are stamped they're from. 

 

Fully agree you on this -> " it doesn't seem brilliant to import more people while exporting water at the same time."

 

I don't know why they bothered to announce new restrictions yesterday that are really just the same old restrictions. How does that help?

[supermom]

Well, at least with a power wash, the neighbor is using less water per minute than a hose with a thumb

 

You can get Flonase over the counter now.  It might help for those times you have to leave the house and be on sidewalks like mine that don't get washed down unless it involves a health/sanitary type of issue.

Flonase is not an acceptable medication I would put in my body

[ducky]

Well, at least with a power wash, the neighbor is using less water per minute than a hose with a thumb

Flonase is not an acceptable medication I would put in my body

 

It works for me and I only need it a few months out of the year.  Keeps me from being miserable and missing work.  I don't notice any side effects.  But to each his or her own.

[mrdavex]

 

I would think so? 

 

I know Quick Quack claims to do so.  Commercial car washes actually use much less water than hand washing it yourself, especially if you don't have a trigger nozzle at the end of the hose.  At my workplace, they now have an onsite "wash while you work" service that says they use only 0.5 gal per car.  However, I disagree with the article that car washing is cheap.  A decent wash here in town costs at least $15, so that's why many folks op to do them at home.  

[mrdavex]

Desalinization plants are awfully expensive and they need energy to operate so you don't just get clean water for free. They also produce quite a bit of waste and that has to go someplace. One of these plants in San Diego took 15 years to build, cost billions, and it only supplies enough water for about 20,000 homes and the algae waste they are dumping back into the ocean is creating some issues. 

 

Correct, they require a lot of electricity to operate.  And most methods to generate electricity require a lot of water: http://water.usgs.gov/edu/wupt.html

 

I think another effective method not mentioned in the article is more usage of reclaimed wastewater.  While it is already used extensively for on-potable applications, if treated with reverse-osmosis, it can be at drinking water quality.  They're already doing it in some places in Socal.  It still takes a fair amount of power, but there is less salt concentration in it than pure seawater, so it is less overall energy.