Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Drought - it's not just for breakfast anymore
Oh, goodie! Lovely additional study confirming that we are screwed in the SW. How long will it be until the neighbors knock on the door and ask, "Um, we were wondering if we could borrow a cup of water? We're all out." Sorry, can't help you. In anticipation of moving quickly (which is now postponed), we sold our two big water tanks for emergency storage. Hey, maybe the rest of ya'll can ship me some of that nifty boxed water Ruchi posted about.
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7 comments:
I know how you feel. I live in Sunny San Diego, CA and we had that report listed on the front page of our local newspaper. It's something we are very conscious of, however, all the time I see people with sprinkler systems with water flowing right down the drain and people buying water, etc. I have SOME water storage in glass jug containers but I definitely do not have a system set up for collecting water nor water storage set up for collecting rain water. Speaking of rain, the rain has been far and few between in our area. Water from the Colorado river for lawns, still makes no sense to me.
had more pecans on our tree this year than ever before, but they were all dried up with nothing much inside, because of the hot, DRY summer. Next year I will definitely be watering that tree, with water captured at the faucets/shower while waiting for it to warm up. As the tree is well-established, I never thought to water it this year. The article makes clear this issue's even MORE serious than I thought. *sigh*
There has been lots of water here recently! I'm hoping it will go away for about a week as we are going on holiday for the first time in three years. Then it can do what it likes :)
I grew up in a desert region and we never watered grass. We just let it get frazzled and brown and crunchy over summer. The vege garden did get watered but only when there weren't restrictions.(you were allowed 30 minutes of watering every second day depending on whether you lived at an even or an odd number in the street.)
Green grass is simply wrong in that sort of climate and was rather rare unless you had your own spring - also rare.
viv in nz
Another problem people with wells don't seem to think about is the potential for droughts and the cost of adding extra pipe, in the first place. I have a 275' deep well -- my neighbors have the standard comes-with-the-special 50-foot pipe. Well, that's fine when everything else is going fine but, in a drought, you're screwed.
A longer pipe goes deep into the underground water and insures you not only have water during a drought but that it hasn't picked up all the nastiness of some minerals that are near the surface.
At my VA home, I had farmers come from all around with largs tubs on their flatbeds 'borrowing' water to feed their stock. Then, they were wishing they'd paid the extra hundred or so bucks to get extra pipe at the start...
This kind of thing is the same reason I don't convert my fireplaces to gas or electric (because it's cleaner!) My heat pump broke this week and I kept warm using my wood-burning fireplace until a new pump could be installed. Our weather was in the teens but that little old fp kept the house comfortable at 64F. Not great warmth, but livable with sweaters AND home cooking!
Thanks for sharing, Chile!
Re your previous post: hey, if I have some chocolates just three hours past lunch, is that considered a snack or a second helping of dessert!? ha. love your challenge...it's making me think!
Laura - lush lawns in the desert are just so STUPID! (Don't get me started...) We have some water on hand but nothing like the two 275 gallon containers we sold this summer. Oh well.
And we finally got some rain yesterday and last night.
Dmarie - It seems the results of each new study paint a bleaker and bleaker picture.
Viv - You can send your excess rain here. Shipping might be a bit expensive, though.
Sharlene - that issue is one I was surprised a prepping acquaintance didn't consider when bragging about the ability to put in a shallow hand-dug well. Might be water there now, but there won't be later...
Dmarie - that's up to you. If you felt guilty and thought about how to rationalize it, then obviously you felt it was seconds rather than a snack. If you didn't, then you probably were truly peckish and needed a snack. :)
*grin* insightful response, Chile!
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