Peeing In The Sink To Save Water?

[GBassNorth]

We need to bring this whole drought issue to a head! Flush the damn toilet!

And do it as many times as it takes to get our brain dead politicians, their enviro friends and agri lobbies to wake up and really address the issue.

California only gets so much water which can support only so many people, businesses, farms and environmental protection assaults. Lock all the interested parties in a room and don't let them come out until they have an actionable plan that they all agree to and that can be executed in three years or less.

California's current mix of useable water distribution is 50% for environmental protection causes, 40% for agriculture, and 10% for business, government and residential combined. Of that 10% for business, government and residential - what fraction of a fraction of a percentage do you think is saved by not flushing a residential toilet?

Looks to me like the distribution needs a little work, but whatever, I guess I'm just pissing in the wind. It would take an act of congress to force those interested parties into a room to hammer this out, and lately congress doesn't seem to be acting much.

Guess our best real hope is Mother Nature showering us with buckets of rain. Fingers crossed for El Niño this rainy season. At which time we can shift the rant to mud slides and lack of proper flood control.

 

[Snakeman1066]

seriously all that fuss over a small fish (about the size of a pinky finger) that isn't even native to our state and dies off within a year of being hatched anyway!!!

 

[elgecko]

Link Removed

"...As you can see from the above chart, by far the biggest environmental use of water is for Wild & Scenic Rivers -- rivers, streams or segments thereof that have been designated by the state, the federal government or both as too nice to dam. Dig a little deeper into the Link Removed, and you find that 93 percent of this water use transpires along California's very wet northern coast, which is separated from the Central Valley and its water infrastructure by mountain ranges that get higher and more rugged as you head north.

The three biggest rivers that flow into the Pacific along the northern coast are the Klamath, the Eel and the Smith. In the 1950s and 1960s there were tentative plans to dam all three and send the water south. A major Klamath tributary, the Trinity River, was in fact dammed in 1962 and much of its water diverted into the federal Central Valley Project..."

 

[GBassNorth]

seriously all that fuss over a small fish (about the size of a pinky finger) that isn't even native to our state and dies off within a year of being hatched anyway!!!

Snakeman - you so need this bass...

The ladies foot on the lower horn is a bit strange but that snake carving on top looks pretty cool!

 

[skychief]

Ripped out all the dichondra. It was dying due to lack of SUNLIGHT - not lack of water (north facing elevation). But good riddence. Laying down river rocks instead. They're very pretty,(imo) but kinda weird to walk on. Anyways, I disabled the sprinklers for this little patch, so even less water is wasted. Now the only thing in the yard which needs watering is a dwarf pear tree on the back. And no, I aint gonna rip THAT out. It was a gift from an in-law. You understand.

 

[Metalbasspro]

The Drought is a geo engineered drought brought to us by design. Weather warfare basically. It won't get better till everyone is run off the land.

 

[One Drop]

The Drought is a geo engineered drought brought to us by design. Weather warfare basically. It won't get better till everyone is run off the land.

To make way for Bigfoot, no doubt.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

Hm.

We've had record rainfall here in Soonerland. We're at 44 inches so far this year, which is about 50% higher than all of last year. Our reservoirs are full to bursting (literally...flooding has been a problem). Still, I try not to waste water, since I don't like paying a high city utilities bill. Also, Norman tap water is (or was) the worst in the country, so I don't drink it. Has very high levels of arsenic and chromium-6. So it's bottled/filtered water for me (and yes, I recycle the bottles).

 

[sissy kathy]

Ripped out all the dichondra. It was dying due to lack of SUNLIGHT - not lack of water (north facing elevation). But good riddence. Laying down river rocks instead. They're very pretty,(imo) but kinda weird to walk on. Anyways, I disabled the sprinklers for this little patch, so even less water is wasted. Now the only thing in the yard which needs watering is a dwarf pear tree on the back. And no, I aint gonna rip THAT out. It was a gift from an in-law. You understand.

View attachment 665608

I did that to the area around my outdoor faucet in Japan; not to conserve water, but to cut down on weeds. Things grew fast there, in fact after I finished (using baseball sized rocks a couple feet down all the way up to the surface) it was overgrown.

 

[Metalbasspro]

To make way for Bigfoot, no doubt.

Ya but the funny thing is, you can't verify Bigfoot on google.

 

[skychief]

...Norman tap water is (or was) the worst in the country, so I don't drink it. Has very high levels of arsenic and chromium-6. So it's bottled/filtered water for me (and yes, I recycle the bottles).

Yikes!

Arsenic and chromium-6. What happens to the poor folks who drink that water? You know that some drink it. Yuck!

Well, if its any consolation, here in Redondo Beach, the tap water is nasty. You can actually smell the chlorine and fluoride additives. We know its bad stuff because some plants will wither and die when watered with it. And its highly alkaline. It etches glass over long periods of time. And that cant be good.

The quality of tap water is sub-par in many places, I'd wager.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Yikes!

Arsenic and chromium-6. What happens to the poor folks who drink that water? You know that some drink it. Yuck!

Well, if its any consolation, here in Redondo Beach, the tap water is nasty. You can actually smell the chlorine and fluoride additives. We know its bad stuff because some plants will wither and die when watered with it. And its highly alkaline. It etches glass over long periods of time. And that cant be good.

The quality of tap water is sub-par in many places, I'd wager.

You don't smell the chlorine, you smell the stuff that got killed by the chlorine.

 

[Metalbasspro]

If all the money spent on water in bottles was used to up grade our water systems we'd haver sparklets water coming out of the tap.

 

[blastoff99]

Ripped out all the dichondra. It was dying due to lack of SUNLIGHT - not lack of water (north facing elevation). But good riddence. Laying down river rocks instead. They're very pretty,(imo) but kinda weird to walk on. Anyways, I disabled the sprinklers for this little patch, so even less water is wasted. Now the only thing in the yard which needs watering is a dwarf pear tree on the back. And no, I aint gonna rip THAT out. It was a gift from an in-law. You understand.

(photo)

How often you gonna have to water the post? It's a big 'un. Or will the neighborhood dogs take care of that for you?

 

[FilterFunk]

Long thread, so I couldn't go through it all, and I couldn't get a straight answer from Google, so...

I'm all for water conservation, and I know that some of indoor water evaporates, and of course we drink some of it. But what percentage of water that actually goes down a drain (including sinks, bathtubs, showers and toilets) gets recycled? I'm tired of hyperbolic news reports that make it sound like as soon as a drop of water goes down the drain, IT'S GONE FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm guessing that indoor water that goes down the drain is not 100% wasted.

Will someone provide some real stats, please?

 

[skychief]

I'm all for water conservation, and I know that some of indoor water evaporates, and of course we drink some of it. But what percentage of water that actually goes down a drain (including sinks, bathtubs, showers and toilets) gets recycled? I'm tired of hyperbolic news reports that make it sound like as soon as a drop of water goes down the drain, IT'S GONE FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm guessing that indoor water that goes down the drain is not 100% wasted.

Will someone provide some real stats, please?

You're absoutely right.

Its not gone forever. We have (locally) the Hyperion water reclamation Plant. Heres the 'real' stats for the greater Los Angeles region:

(YMMV.)

Treatment Plants

Hyperion Treatment Plant
Daily flow - 362 million gal/day (mgd) 450 mgd capacity
Treatment - Full secondary, solids handling
No. of personnel - 277

Tillman Water Reclamation Plant
Daily flow - 67 mgd/80 mgd capacity.
Treatment - Tertiary; Title 22 standards (for reclaimed water reuse).
No. of personnel - 43

LA/Glendale Water Reclamation Plant
Daily flow - 20 mgd/20 mgd capacity.
Treatment - Advanced secondary; Title 22 standards (for reclaimed water reuse).
No. of personnel - 16

Terminal Island Treatment Plant
Daily flow - Design 30 mgd - Averaging 17.5 mgd
Treatment -Full secondary and tertiary treatment with up to 5 mgd advanced water treatment capability.

No. of personnel - 66

Problem is, we're quickly running out of the water to be reclaimed. When the spigots run dry, obviously, no water can be reclaimed.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Reclaimed from sewage as potable supply? No wonder bottled water sells so well.

 

[FilterFunk]

You're absoutely right.

Its not gone forever. We have (locally) the Hyperion water reclamation Plant. Heres the 'real' stats for the greater Los Angeles region:

(YMMV.)

Treatment Plants

Hyperion Treatment Plant
Daily flow - 362 million gal/day (mgd) 450 mgd capacity
Treatment - Full secondary, solids handling
No. of personnel - 277

Tillman Water Reclamation Plant
Daily flow - 67 mgd/80 mgd capacity.
Treatment - Tertiary; Title 22 standards (for reclaimed water reuse).
No. of personnel - 43

LA/Glendale Water Reclamation Plant
Daily flow - 20 mgd/20 mgd capacity.
Treatment - Advanced secondary; Title 22 standards (for reclaimed water reuse).
No. of personnel - 16

Terminal Island Treatment Plant
Daily flow - Design 30 mgd - Averaging 17.5 mgd
Treatment -Full secondary and tertiary treatment with up to 5 mgd advanced water treatment capability.

No. of personnel - 66

Problem is, we're quickly running out of the water to be reclaimed. When the spigots run dry, obviously, no water can be reclaimed.

Thanks for the info.

So, just to be clear - if 10 gallons of water go down the drain during a shower, does all of that end up back in the clean water supply, e.g., water for faucets and showers?

 

[One Drop]

Thanks for the info.

So, just to be clear - if 10 gallons of water go down the drain during a shower, does all of that end up back in the clean water supply, e.g., water for faucets and showers?

No, no matter what the system and how much waste water is recycled.

Much will evaporate, leak into the ground, etc.

 

[sissy kathy]

Thanks for the info.

So, just to be clear - if 10 gallons of water go down the drain during a shower, does all of that end up back in the clean water supply, e.g., water for faucets and showers?

Here in the Baltimore metro area approx 29% of sewage water is recycled, though not to taps and showers; it's recycled for industrial use. The remainder that doesn't evaporate is used to try and help the Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts.

As best I can determine 0% of water runoff (rain, lawn watering, washing vehicles in your driveway ect.) is recycled.