Water restriction rant

[70SATMan]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

I first heard of xeriscaping (landscaping that doesn't require supplemental irrigation) a couple of decades ago, when I lived in Brevard County, FL.

Thats what we've done. From May- Oct we typically receive no rain in my area. Our yard is landscaped primarily with Cali coast native varieties. I stick with natives as much as possible. Naturally drought tolerant, lots of varieties. Even an abundance of native grasses. I'm sure you could find some equally pleasant alternatives in FLA.

Jim, I mentioned the commonality of supply as a result of watching several years of local farmers fighting against well registration, water use restrictions, paying for water usage etc. In my area the water aquifers cover a huge area. Local farmers use a lot of irrigation and for years had no restrictions governing their misuse. In the end they pretty much lost the battle due to the fact that the water supply trancends property boundries. They couldn't prove that their use stopped at their border which you could with say, mineral rights or logging rights.

With more people wanting to develop (their American Capitolistic given right), tougher measures will be needed for us all to coexist.

[Tobra]

Yeah, tough measures. If we cut off water going south, Northern Cali's water woes would be solved, for a while.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Too many people.

The root of all problems.

When people start keeping their flys zipped up and the population starts returning to a sustainable size, we'll all collectively be better off. But until then (last I checked, spitting out babies was more popular than dying) things are only gonna' get worse.

[ErVikingo]

Originally Posted by Jim Cesiro

ErVikingo - I am not the type to do drop dimes its not my style, if someone wants to report me its their karma.

Not my style either but they are breaking the law and clearly its affecting you (you woudn't be posting here if not).

You can be nice and tell them that they are wasting the water since it evaporates.

[cstreit]

Wait, you have a well and they're restricting your usage?

[Jims5543]

Yeah, go figure. Its so deep I am actually tapping water from jdiots backyard.

Juan - gotcha now, this is sort of the jist of this rant too, enact a water restriction, old farts go nuts and start watering all day on their days to save their lawns and use twice as much water than when there was no restriction.

I might just start dropping dimes, of course once I reset my sprinklers.

[JV911SYDNEY]

hello from aus, the land of water restrictions

no watering the lawn (i dont know why people do this anyway...havent watered mine EVER and its still nice and green)
no watering the garden (now you can do it once a week)
no watering hard surfaces (fuch knows why people water the pavement anyway!)
no washing the car

[70SATMan]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Too many people.

The root of all problems.

You would be surprised that personal consumption is less of a problem than the development itself. Hardscape creates runoff of water that would ordinarily supply the aquifers instead of being shunted into drains that end up in the ocean.
The aquifers themselves are not given the chance to recharge.

Developers are demanding increased footprint %s from the planning commission to maximize profits from developed land. My county should be focusing on decreasing hardscape and offering incentives for the replacement of concrete/asphalt with permeable solutions. I've done all that I can do on a personal level. Removed our asphalt drive and replaced it with paving bricks/sand, removed a concrete patio and replaced it with flag stone, created an off drive parking area with concrete block on side planted with grasses.

Hard to enlighten the people that just want to concrete over everything.

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by JV911SYDNEY

no washing the car

Now that's just wrong.

[berettafan]

you do understand that when the well runs dry there is no more water right?

most of us have wells. it's not like the city buys aquafina and dumps it into a pump that sends it to your house.

google 'aquifer'. i'm no expert but aquifers can/are shared by many people and this can include the township down the road. when these get low it's a very real concern.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally Posted by 70SATMan

You would be surprised that personal consumption is less of a problem than the development itself. Hardscape creates runoff of water that would ordinarily supply the aquifers instead of being shunted into drains that end up in the ocean.
The aquifers themselves are not given the chance to recharge.

Developers are demanding increased footprint %s from the planning commission to maximize profits from developed land. My county should be focusing on decreasing hardscape and offering incentives for the replacement of concrete/asphalt with permeable solutions. I've done all that I can do on a personal level. Removed our asphalt drive and replaced it with paving bricks/sand, removed a concrete patio and replaced it with flag stone, created an off drive parking area with concrete block on side planted with grasses.

Hard to enlighten the people that just want to concrete over everything.

You are absolutely correct on this. In fact I just took an exam (part of my state licensing) that deals with exactly these kinds of site planning issues a couple of weeks ago. Current-day (sustainable-design) philosophy encourages the use of swales, detention ponds and landscape areas that allow water to (1) be filtered by plant material prior to infiltration and (2) to re-enter the aquafer system directly. French drains, etc. are also encouraged versus traditional catch basins/storm drains running to (usually concrete-lined) drainage channels.

Good job on the update on your own land/property!

It gets more complicated depending on soil conditions. If you have very fine, clay-like soils, they can expand/contract wildly depending on moisture content. As such, you have to know what the best approach is from a development standpoint prior to doing anything. The traditional "el cheapo" developer solution is always to hardscape everything and plug in storm drains where they have to. NOT always the best, I agree 100%!

[70SATMan]

Originally Posted by berettafan

you do understand that when the well runs dry there is no more water right?

most of us have wells. it's not like the city buys aquafina and dumps it into a pump that sends it to your house.

google 'aquifer'. i'm no expert but aquifers can/are shared by many people and this can include the township down the road. when these get low it's a very real concern.

Spot on. My water is all "well supplied" even though I get my water from "the system" Matter of fact the property to the right of me is a water district pump station. Nice, quite well landscaped neighbor. I love em. No late parties.

[70SATMan]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

You are absolutely correct on this. In fact I just took an exam (part of my state licensing) that deals with exactly these kinds of site planning issues a couple of weeks ago. !

Guess you aren't suprised then I did have to endure a hard fought battle with my wife over the new patio. She wanted the flag mortared which I told her defeated the purpose! I endured. Got another battle coming though. She and I both want to add on. I want to go up on the same footprint. She wants to go off the back. Going to be EPIC!


I'm surprised however, that I haven't been lambasted here as a tree hugging, hippie, greenie, left wing wack job because of my environmental conservationist values......yet.