Record Drought in US

pyro9

Fri Jun 08 20:48:23 -0700 2007

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That was a nice rain today (I'm also in Ga).

There is a lot that can be done. I'm considering setting up a graywater tank behind the washing machine for example. That and a small pump should allow me to keep watering through the summer. If things get worse, I can use a sump pump to capture the shower drain as well.

I'm already catching rainwater from the roof into a 50 gallon trashcan. Not washing the car is helpful as well (strictly to conserve water, yeah)

That may not seem like much, but if most households do that, there will be enough water left over for agricultural use.

It may also be time for more golf courses to consider the "Arizona look".

dogbowl rain gauge

zogger

Sat Jun 09 20:47:21 -0700 2007

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It was raining when I posted but stopped quickly. Looking at the dogfood bowls outside, maybe 1/4 inch, just enough to make it really humid.

Ya, I am a *big* fan of home graywater tanks and getting codes changed to not only allow it, but mandate it for things like toilet flushing or watering the lawn. Using expensive manufactured clean potable water for some uses like that is beyond silly.

Cry wolf

chipmonck

Sun Jun 10 08:17:20 -0700 2007

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I also live in GA, and I agree that separating brown/gray/clean water could go a long way to help....

That being said, a lot of what we're suffering from is the "cry wolf" phenomenon - if you keep crying wolf before the crisis comes, then nobody listens when the crisis actually arrives.

Remember about four years ago when it rained for about a month solid, all of the lakes were full (and some were overflowing)? Walking through my yard was like walking through a bowl of soggy cornflakes. In short, that year there was plenty of water. What did the local municipality do? It tightened water restrictions!

Now that there's an actual crisis, a lot of people are going "yeah, yeah, we've heard it all before". I see lots of asphalt being watered, and the municipality shares in the blame - lots of leaking hydrants, broken pipes, etc.

Yet another case of "do as I say, not as I do".

Cry wolf

Richard Young

Sun Jun 10 18:48:57 -0700 2007

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Take heed of the warnings.  In Australia, a lot of people left it too late.

As of the 1st July, Canberra is on level 4 water restrictions.  This means that you are not allowed to water your plants even with a bucket!

Basic advise to prepare;

Get a rain water tank, plumb it in to flush the toilet.

Collect your grey water, and start watering your garden with it.

Change your shower heads to water efficient ones.

Start having 4 minute showers.

There's more, but I'm sure that people here know how to use google :-)

Cry wolf

pyro9

Mon Jun 11 17:21:58 -0700 2007

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I'm not sure I can remember a year we DIDN'T hear claims of drought in Ga. The real problem is that most municiple water treatment plants have been cronically undersized for summer water usage and "draught" is politically easier to proclaim than "inadequate infrastructure" year after year.

The problem as you point out is that now that we really DO have an actual shortfall rather than just an infrastructure problem, people are hearing nothing they haven't heard for the last 20 years, so they are doing nothing different.

It's perfectly fine to consider peak reduction through conservation as a way to postpone expensive new infrastructure, particularly when nobody wants to pay higher taxes, but a bit more honesty through the years would have helped a LOT.