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Do you have any idea how large of a solar panel farm would be needed to produce the 15,000 kw to run a desalinization plant? From the above article, it takes just over half of the power to convert waste water.
And take into account the chemicals and power use to build solar panels.
California is in a state of severe drought and you are more worried that people won't be able to water their lawn than that the state will potentially run out of water within a year?
I'm glad to see that he is ordering golf courses to reduce their water usage. The idea of golf courses in the desert is an obscene waste of a precious resource. Arizona and Nevada should follow suit.
They should start asking those rich homeowners how many shower heads run while taking a shower. I manage vacation homes in my area, you'd be surprised (maybe) how many shower heads people have and they run all at once, not adjustable.
Are 6-8 shower heads needed to take a shower?? Plus some people shower more than twice a day. Plus the amount of people who never fix the drips in there house. I have one customer who finally fixed a dripping faucet of hot water after 2 yrs of slow dripping.
Just like the SHOT SPOTTER technology to triangulate gunshot sounds they will just spin it a bit and come out with new FLUSH Spotter technology. All house will be allowed only so many flushes per day. They hear the flush and then triangulate the spot and a program counts the flushes.
Do you have any idea how large of a solar panel farm would be needed to produce the 15,000 kw to run a desalinization plant? From the above article, it takes just over half of the power to convert waste water.
And take into account the chemicals and power use to build solar panels.
There is a very simple solution...that will never be considered in CA. It's called the "free market"...perhaps someone in the CA government should read up on it. If there is a shortage of supply, increase the price and demand will drop. If it proves too costly to use water-wasting farming methods in the middle of a desert, farmers will find ways to adapt, as will other users. Sub-irrigation rather than spraying water into the air is one way. Same with yards-if it costs $400 a month to water your yard in the desert, maybe homeowners will focus on planting cacti rather than bluegrass.
Originally Posted by freemkt
How on earth will they enforce that?
My Texas town has day and time of day restrictions. Even numbered houses can only water their lawns Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (10 to 6), odd numbers on Wednesday, Friday & Sunday 9 (10 to 6), businesses on Monday only . It's easy to spot violators and your friendly neighbors will turn you in.
If I was foolish enough to live in California, the first thing I would do would be to install a 2000 gallon cistern in my back yard, and all household "grey water" would go through a filter and be stored in there. Only "black water" (from toilets) would go into the sewer or septic system.
The filtered "grey water" would be used for lawn and garden irrigation.
I also agree with making potable water out of the Pacific Ocean. Yes, it CAN be done, and it just might become absolutely necessary!
For that matter, the effluent from sewage treatment plants can be made potable. Yes, it sounds gross and disgusting, but where do you think your drinking water comes from now?
I know where mine comes from; every town upstream on the Yellowstone River dumps their effluent into the river, and Billings pumps their water from the river.
Actually, my water at home comes from a well, which is in an aquifer that distributes water from every septic tank uphill from here. ALL water is recycled. The water you are drinking now, from whatever source, may have gone through the kidneys of thousands of people and animals in the last year. Get used to it.
'Will California soon fill its prisons with "water criminals?" If a cop drives by a yard where two people are standing around, and one of them is smoking a joint while the other is watering his yard, guess which one will be arrested?
He is way late to the game. He should have imposed restrictions as soon as he took office.
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