Water Conservation (Chama, Cloudcroft: Home Depot, allergy, cost)

[songinthewind7]

I appreciate your posts in my thread and going off topic some doesn't bother me but I don't see the point in telling somebody how to post.
It's not a very nice thing to do.

[Poncho_NM]

Originally Posted by rruff

I also hear that power plants go through a lot of water.

Yes power plants withdraw and consume water with a lot of factors involved. I don't recall the number for New Mexico but anywhere from 0.05 to 60 gallons of water can be used for each kilowatt-hour of energy used.

It's not a large amount of water when compared to agriculture, but it is an issue which states are looking at and some low cost applications can be used.



Rich

[TiaDalma]

Hiya Song, I thought 'd mention something we do at the Barn to help conserve water and keep waste down (out of the septic system, making it last longer).

I'm not sure what the "official" name is so we gals call it the Poof John LOL ( I can ask about the 'real' name of it)
But, we have an Outdoor latrine. No water for it. It incinerates all the waste that goes in it with the push of a button (burns it right up)
Poof and it's gone!

I don't have a clue how it works but it does it well

We've got a hand sanitizing gel dispenser and paper towels there too.
(I carry those with me anyway where ever I go )

You can imagine with a large Horse Facility just how much water we might use. We've got a bathing room for horses inside, and hoses all over the farm to use for water. But the 'toilet' is this 'Poof John'.
Saved them money for the plumbing and pipes to run too. It is outside and a little cold in the winter here but hey! Helps keep the costs of running the place, down too
I'd never heard of or seen one of them before moving there with my horse
We also use the new type light bulbs in many places as well.
We do our best.

Another I thought I'd mention that I can't remember the exact numbers on (and I think there is a Plant in Clovis maybe?, can remember?).
To make 1 gallon of Ethanol (corn based fuel) is take 10-16 gallons of water! Boing! Which is another reason I'm sort of against it, on a full fledged level. A mix is ok, but an All Ethanol vehicle wastes water, by it's very fuel demand imho. NM can't afford to waste that kind of water for Ethanol imo.
Blending it is fine if the Ethanol is brought in from a state where the Water is more plentiful. But then the cost of transporting Ethanol gets expensive.
Just tossed in those other thoughts, can't remember the exactness of the water amounts but it was staggering (wasteful) to me.

I don't know either that a "poof john" would be good in a Dry state. Not sure how it works or if, any malfunction would maybe be a problem or not? Just don't know enough about it. But saves us water


Tia Dalma

[mortimer]

TiaDalma, on her loo:

> I'm not sure what the "official" name is so we gals call it the Poof John
> ... have an Outdoor latrine. No water for it. It incinerates all the waste
> that goes in it with the push of a button (burns it right up)

Poof John - [INCINERATING TOILETS] - about 85% of the way down.

I don't know what to think about this.

Using water isn't necessarily an environmental concern. It's just scarce in the desert. Using energy *is* an environmental concern.

You can argue that you could use electricity from a "green" source for it, but you are giving up the ability to substitute for a "dirty" source somewhere else.

In any case, "waste" is only "waste" in its concentrated form. Spread out in a field sowed with seed, it becomes plant food.

In the space station, all of the water is recovered and consumed ( over and over ).

In Albuquerque (now), sewage from Taos, Española, and Santa Fe are also partially consumed ( again ).

[Zoidberg]

Why are we trying to conserve water again?

Water, like all other matter, is conserved (in the physics sense). It doesn't get destroyed if we drink it, or pour it down the drain, or let it evaporate. More will come (perhaps not enough) when it rains.

When our aquifer is depleted, water will get more expensive, and more limitations will apply to residential use, but there will still be water. If it has to come in by truck or pipeline, it will come if the economics favor it.

I suppose the only reasons to conserve water are to keep it cheap and keep it plentiful. It could cost me 10X as much and it would still be pretty cheap and plentiful by my standards. So, playing devil's advocate here, why conserve again?

[highdesertmutz]

Originally Posted by Zoidberg

Why are we trying to conserve water again?

Water, like all other matter, is conserved (in the physics sense). It doesn't get destroyed if we drink it, or pour it down the drain, or let it evaporate. More will come (perhaps not enough) when it rains.

When our aquifer is depleted, water will get more expensive, and more limitations will apply to residential use, but there will still be water. If it has to come in by truck or pipeline, it will come if the economics favor it.

I suppose the only reasons to conserve water are to keep it cheap and keep it plentiful. It could cost me 10X as much and it would still be pretty cheap and plentiful by my standards. So, playing devil's advocate here, why conserve again?

Don't people believe in conserving our natural resources? devil's advocate means? you pay for water, and you'll use or take as much as you wish for as long as it lasts? and when it is not available due to a let's say, a 100 year drought, you will complain that by god, I'm paying a water bill, and I want it, I want my fair share of what I'm paying for? hmmmm. conservation is one way to avoid a shortage of a natural resouce. isn't it?

[songinthewind7]

Another way to conserve water is to use the regular cycle on the washing machine instead of perm press. It saves 5 gallons of water per load.

[Vinegaroon]

Originally Posted by Zoidberg

Why are we trying to conserve water again?

Water, like all other matter, is conserved (in the physics sense). It doesn't get destroyed if we drink it, or pour it down the drain, or let it evaporate. More will come (perhaps not enough) when it rains.

When our aquifer is depleted, water will get more expensive, and more limitations will apply to residential use, but there will still be water. If it has to come in by truck or pipeline, it will come if the economics favor it.

I suppose the only reasons to conserve water are to keep it cheap and keep it plentiful. It could cost me 10X as much and it would still be pretty cheap and plentiful by my standards. So, playing devil's advocate here, why conserve again?

Your argument that water cannot be destroyed is overly simplistic. when it is used up, if it is not replenished in the same amount, it is not replaced. Presently New Mexico already has limited water supplies, whether that be streams, rivers, lakes or aquifers.

The reasons for water conservation are so that we may have adequate water for the future. Population growth continues to occur in New Mexico, and does not appear to be declining anytime in the future. More demand, less water for everyone. With population growth, there will be more pollution, and this will affect our water supplies, and the health of our watercourses and aquifers. The more we conserve clean water, the less we have to worry about getting water from polluted sources.

Drought is an ever present concern. It is always possible that we will experience a very severe drought, and then water conservation will be more important than ever. If we conserve now, we will be better prepared should that scenario ever occur.

In addition, New Mexico has interstate water delivery obligations to Texas. Water conservation is necessary to avoid costly litigation should New Mexico fail to deliver adequate amounts of water that it is required to do by law under various interstate compacts. New Mexico has already been sued by Texas once over this, and it did not fair well.

For all these reasons and more, we need to conserve as much water as we can Mr. Advocate for the Devil Sir.

[Tim Rankin]

Originally Posted by Zoidberg

So, playing devil's advocate here, why conserve again?

Good point, Zoidberg. And while we're at it, let's get those biomass power plants fired up too. NM has lots and lots of pinon forests to burn, and they'll eventually grow back. Well, maybe, but who cares? Other natural resources are there for the taking too! How about...we "top" off Sandia Mtn - there has to be plenty of raw material for [something] up there. And when it's all leveled off, we can sell the mountain to SunCal and they can build even more houses!!! Yayyyy!! And then, we can build a giganto solar collector extending over much of the state to generate huge amounts of energy [to build even more things!!], As an unintended benefit, it'll be nice and cool in the summertime. Kind of like an enormous sun-brella keeping us out of those harmful, yucky UV rays. You're absolutely right Zoidberg, why conserve anything??

[mortimer]

Zoidberg asks:

> Why are we trying to conserve water again?

There's another consideration to using less water. It alters the climate.
The more lush yards that people have, the more water vapor gets pumped
into the air making the nice dry climate that makes it so comfortable here,
less so.

Also, if we march forward into the future with people "expecting" to be able
to use 200+ gallons/water/person/per-day then they will "expect" to have
facilities built such as the ridiculous concept of desalinating sea water and
pumping it up from the Gulf ( you pick which one ) to this mile-high town.

> Water, like all other matter, is conserved (in the physics sense).
> It doesn't get destroyed if we drink it, or pour it down the drain,
> or let it evaporate. More will come ...

Energy, like all matter, is conserved (in the physics sense).
It doesn't get destroyed if we 'use' it, or [pour it down the drain,
or let it evaporate]. ["waste" it] More will come ...

We conserve energy for many of the same reasons that we conserve water.

It didn't matter when there were only a couple billion people in the world,
but it does now.

We also conserve because getting the next 'drop' out of the system costs
more than the last drop.

I've always liked the saying "Live simply so others may simply live."

$100/month for water is nothing to us, but for many people in this world,
that's their entire income for a month.

Those are some of the reasons I turned off my irrigation system.
(Plus I'm STILL a cheap b@stard.)