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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Feb 18, 2015 18:48:53 GMT -5
There will also have to changes in individual attitudes - washing cars, watering grassy lawns and boulevarded areas and large golf courses will need to be re-examined.
I think the individual changes may be just as hard to accomplish as so many folks just aren't attuned to change because of environmental issues. There are still people who deny that global warming is a real threat.
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Post by farmerkevin on Feb 19, 2015 0:17:40 GMT -5
There will also have to changes in individual attitudes - washing cars, watering grassy lawns and boulevarded areas and large golf courses will need to be re-examined.
I think the individual changes may be just as hard to accomplish as so many folks just aren't attuned to change because of environmental issues. There are still people who deny that global warming is a real threat. We are in a drought here in SoCal. As I was driving one day I saw a gentleman rinsing his driveway with water. Middle of an 80 degree day. I made sure he saw me shaking my head as I drove away. I know he didn't care. People take for granted that water comes out of the tap reliably. I water my yard with stored rainwater (660 gallons) I'm half out and we're only not even 3 months into this year. I hope we get more rain here soon or we cool down so I can cut back on watering. Right now I water once a week. This summer is going to be rough.
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Feb 19, 2015 0:41:06 GMT -5
Kevin, I was thinking of this post as I watched part of a PBS program on damages done to the ocean - to the fish population and specific fish groups that have been dwindling. Although I didn't watch all of it, I was thinking also of all the phenomenal amounts of plastic that end up in the ocean and the horrific effects on ocean life.
Although these aren't megadrought issues, they certainly fall into the umbrella of more astute, conscious and responsible resource management, which I think is the larger issue in the whole range of responsible environment management and use.
"People take for granted that water comes out of the tap reliably. "
I think this is one of the problems, that people take for granted that resources are unlimited, as we/they once viewed fossil fuels.
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Post by farmerkevin on Feb 19, 2015 1:21:21 GMT -5
It's funny you mention the ocean. I was watching a commercial (the one with the cigarette butt that gets uncovered by the sniffing dog after it travels through the gutters/drains.
I was thinking that why aren't their filters or some kind of media to catch most debris. Each successive filter is a smaller media. It would require a large crew and pumping trucks to clean them out occasionally, and the water would not be crystal clear drinkable, but no trash gets through.
We could also desalinate ocean water, and have the salt deposited into reservoirs that were after the last filter. When it rains, rainwater would go into these reservoirs and then saltwater goes back into the ocean. Otherwise the salt from desalination "could" increase salinity in the ocean.
About the trash in the ocean, there's a large debris field that just floats in the ocean. It's quite sickening :(
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Post by claude on Mar 12, 2015 19:31:26 GMT -5
We in the us have MOST of the worlds finite fresh water ...we waste more in a week than Africans have for a year. And we are cocky about it too..oblivious because it hasn't inconvenienced us yet. We need to teach our young citizens to conserve..don't leave the faucet running while you brush your teeth..10 min showers..when you can shower in 5 min, and being careful about things that can contaminate our water supply like drugs and fertilizers. we watched a science channel documentary on plastics...there is a plastic island floating in the Pacific that is the size of Texas...now that China is no longer taking our plastics..there is an opportunity for us to remake and reuse these. Nobody wants recyclables into a new science technology.
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Post by binnylou on Mar 12, 2015 19:42:56 GMT -5
We need to teach our young citizens to conserve..don't leave the faucet running while you brush your teeth..10 min showers..when you can shower in 5 min, and being careful about things that can contaminate our water supply like drugs and fertilizers. I try to remember that the water coming from the tap doesn't have to be on full blast....a 1/4 blast will do just fine most of the time.
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Post by gakaren on Mar 12, 2015 21:28:14 GMT -5
And toilets...if it's yellow, let it mellow...if it's brown, flush it down!
If you have an older toilet, did you know you can put a brick or two in the tank to displace water so you don't use as much each flush?
We have water saver toilets in our house.
When I got my front loader washing machine, our power bill went down by about $50 a month...the well wasn't pumping as much water as the old top loader took. And when I hang out every week, it cuts it by close to $40 a month....we are on rural co-op, so it's not all that cheap out here. But we do get a yearly rebate for having some energy efficient appliances.
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Post by farmerkevin on Mar 12, 2015 23:06:02 GMT -5
One of the first things I did here at my house was install low flow toilets.
My next property will be an outhouse. No water needed.
I try to save water as much as I can. Low flow toilets, rainwater drip irrigation for the trees and garden, drought tolerant landscape where I can, very short showers (turn off between rinses), dishes once a week (it's just me and I don't make that many), and I use the toilet in the rule of 2's. 2 number ones, or 1 number 2.
My water bill is about $35 a month now for the past few months. Everyone around me is $60 and up and their yards are no nicer than mine lol
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Post by brownrexx on Mar 13, 2015 8:35:45 GMT -5
About the trash in the ocean, there's a large debris field that just floats in the ocean. It's quite sickening I think of that every time I refuse a plastic bag at the supermarket.
When we have drought conditions, usually in late summer, I keep a 2 1/2 gallon scrub bucket in the shower and put it under the water while I am waiting for the water to warm up. I get about a gallon per day that I pour out onto my shrubs which are right outside of the front door. I like actually using that water instead of sending it down the drain.
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Post by gulfcoastguy on Mar 13, 2015 12:56:29 GMT -5
The first thing I installed in my house was low flow shower heads with a bail that could shut the flow off between wetting and soaping and soaping and rinsing. The second was a front loading washing machine. I save outdoor watering for garden plants only.
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Post by binnylou on Mar 13, 2015 13:00:31 GMT -5
My next property will be an outhouse Are there states where outhouses have not been outlawed?
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Post by claude on Mar 13, 2015 19:39:58 GMT -5
When I traveled to Columbia SA back in the 80's, the hotel turned off the water at 11:00 so that the other side of the city could have water. That's the way that they have lived for years. No running water until it's their turn. That really impacted me. We are so spoiled with all of our blessings here in the US.
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Post by claude on Mar 13, 2015 19:51:12 GMT -5
I remember several years ago we drove over lake Norman(?) and it was so low in the middle of July that boats weren't using it on the weekends. It was shocking! The same year my Ohio sister visited the one in Tx.. They had rented a cottage on a beautiful lake that sister Ohio had visited previously. The lake was gone. Totally gone. It was a cracking dehydrated pit...needless to say, their vaca was shortened.
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Post by coldparasite on Mar 17, 2015 9:13:54 GMT -5
Large scale migration out of Cali, most likely to happen, if a mega drought of that proportion happens. All those people will lose their shirts on their property values, plus as the loss of the nations fruit and fresh veggie farms mean grocery prices will skyrocket. None of it tells the story of any good outcome should this happen. It takes years to rebuild alternative water replacement infrastructures too - what will all those people who are living in those regions do in the meanwhile?
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Post by gakaren on Mar 20, 2015 15:20:14 GMT -5
I'm already seeing some areas of the country pick up some of the slack on some veggie crops and some tree crops. I think a LOT of that will migrate to other areas of the country. But also, we are seeing plants living in my area that just a few years ago would only live in central Fl. or further south, so that the global warming/climate change (which ever) needs to be kept in consideration too! My zone has changed from sitting on the line of 8a/b to being a fully 8b now and getting closer to 9!
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