Hopeless Addict
Posted 09 January 2014 - 11:24 AM
Well, it may happen. The most restrictive of water restrictions and never imposed before. San Juan Water is now considering imposing this and it would no doubt extend to Folsom and Roseville. It calls for a 50 percent reduction in water use.
It would mean no outside watering at all. This includes no lawn or drip irrigation, washing your car, topping off your pool or fountain. No planting new plants (sorry, Green Acres!).
untitled
Posted 09 January 2014 - 11:53 AM
Well, it may happen. The most restrictive of water restrictions and never imposed before. San Juan Water is now considering imposing this and it would no doubt extend to Folsom and Roseville. It calls for a 50 percent reduction in water use.
It would mean no outside watering at all. This includes no lawn or drip irrigation, washing your car, topping off your pool or fountain. No planting new plants (sorry, Green Acres!).
How do they determine 50 percent reduction? Sure, I can stop watering my yard the one day a week I've been doing it, but how do they monitor how many showers are taken or how many times a household uses the washing machine? Does the landscape watering apply to plants grown for food?
Doesn't the water we use just go back into the system downriver after being treated? I'm not making excuses for not conserving, I'm just wondering the most effective ways to do it.
I can't even imagine how dire things would be if S50 were built out right now using our current water contract instead of the new water they were supposed to find.
Living Legend
Posted 09 January 2014 - 12:00 PM
I can't see how we are in a drought. I left the shower running all last night and there was still water coming out...
Hopeless Addict
Posted 09 January 2014 - 12:01 PM
I believe it means a city-wide reduction of 50 percent. It would be nearly impossible to check what a property's previous year consumption was and make sure that was reduced by 50 percent. I believe the flat rate would remain and the tiers would be adjusted upward, making it financially punitive to use water in the second, third, etc. tiers.
and, yes, I believe irrigation includes plants grown for food, aka gardens. no open hoses either (i.e. without shut offs).
and the water does go downstream after we use it; however, the idea is to not use it so we keep all the water we can in the lake as long as we can.
lots and lots of fish and wildlife are going to die and habitats are going to suffer too, no matter what.
untitled
Posted 09 January 2014 - 12:16 PM
That makes more sense. I totally understand curtailing the landscaping irrigation as the biggest way to conserve.
Someone else here mentioned using a bucket to capture shower water while you're waiting for it to heat up. Not a bad idea. That water could be used for cleaning or watering potted things or my trees that are planted with PVC pipes to water their roots.
I know sending more to the landfill isn't a great idea, but I'm considering using paper plates more for meals to keep down on washing dishes.
Hopeless Addict
Posted 09 January 2014 - 12:26 PM
I'm using my electric kettle to catch water from my kitchen sink as the water warms up. Then I use the kettle for tea or watering pots outside. A bucket in the shower is good too and I'll be shifting to that to keep my trees alive at this rate. One thing I very very much hope is that this persistent high dissolves by summer so that we don't end up with 10 to 15 degree above normal days in June through August that we are having now in January. I dread thinking of weeks/months in a row of 100+ temperatures and the inability to water trees.
the only silver lining I see is the possibility of swimming in Negro Bar. It's usually so dang cold because its basically just a big conduit passing water from the bottom of Folsom Lake on down the American River. If water flow out is cut way back, water may stay in Lake Natoma long enough to make it comfortable for swimming.
Superstar
Posted 09 January 2014 - 01:14 PM
Doesn't the water we use just go back into the system downriver after being treated? I'm not making excuses for not conserving, I'm just wondering the most effective ways to do it.
Any water that goes into the sewer will go back downstream. However, most of the water used for irrigation is lost to evaporation, and right now it looks like that water vapor is going back East instead of raining on snowing on us 
I bought this for my shower, but haven't gotten around to installing it yet: http://showerstart.com/
Should help me save a couple gallons.
Disco Infiltrator
Posted 09 January 2014 - 01:31 PM
In a similar vein, my in-laws have a dingus that pumps cold water out of the hot water pipe back into to the cold side, until it runs hot. So there is hot water right when you get in the shower and none is lost.
Hopeless Addict
Posted 09 January 2014 - 01:33 PM
never heard of shower start before, but I stand there with my hand in the stream monitoring. I was hoping it was something that somehow prevented the loss of the cold water that comes out before the hot water arrives. I guess that would be back to the bucket idea. However, how hard would it be to hook up a toggle switch of some sort so that your shower grey water could be diverted from the sewer line and into an outside grey water tank for irrigation?
Superstar
Posted 09 January 2014 - 02:07 PM
I was thinking about putting one in too, especially since my kitchen sink is farthest away from the water heater and takes forever to get hot once opened. But it is much more expensive compared to the bucket. I've also discovered that it can also increase your gas bill.
In a similar vein, my in-laws have a dingus that pumps cold water out of the hot water pipe back into to the cold side, until it runs hot. So there is hot water right when you get in the shower and none is lost.
Yes, Shower Start is just a way of automating hand-in-stream. I'll probably use a bucket in conjunction to catch the cold water and use it for something else.
If your shower drain is under the slab, it would be pretty hard to install a gray water diversion valve, and your tank would need to be underground unless you had a lift pump. Slightly easier for a 2nd story shower, but you'd at least need to tear up the ceiling below.
never heard of shower start before, but I stand there with my hand in the stream monitoring. I was hoping it was something that somehow prevented the loss of the cold water that comes out before the hot water arrives. I guess that would be back to the bucket idea. However, how hard would it be to hook up a toggle switch of some sort so that your shower grey water could be diverted from the sewer line and into an outside grey water tank for irrigation?
Hopeless Addict
Posted 09 January 2014 - 02:28 PM
every bit helps, right? in the past I toyed with the idea of buying a 600-gallon green plastic tank to hold spring rain water in the sideyard for summer irrigation, but it never worked out economically. However this summer it might have been worth it to store up at least enough to keep the fruit trees alive in the event of another summer heat wave like we had last 4th of July week.
Superstar
Posted 09 January 2014 - 03:09 PM
Yup, rain barrel would work, but only if we get some rain before summer.
every bit helps, right? in the past I toyed with the idea of buying a 600-gallon green plastic tank to hold spring rain water in the sideyard for summer irrigation, but it never worked out economically. However this summer it might have been worth it to store up at least enough to keep the fruit trees alive in the event of another summer heat wave like we had last 4th of July week.
GO NAVY
Posted 09 January 2014 - 03:14 PM
And has central and southern California gone to conserving 20-50 percent of their water too.
If we are sending water south, which we are, everyone in the state should be conserving.
Hall Of Famer
Posted 09 January 2014 - 03:20 PM
On the bright side, isn't the main reason for the Folsom dam actually flood control?
We seem to be doing OK in that regard right now. ;-)
And has central and southern California gone to conserving 20-50 percent of their water too.
If we are sending water south, which we are, everyone in the state should be conserving.
That is absolutely correct.
Hopeless Addict
Posted 09 January 2014 - 03:41 PM
And has central and southern California gone to conserving 20-50 percent of their water too.
If we are sending water south, which we are, everyone in the state should be conserving.
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