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Yes, for those of us who receive municipal water, which is the vast majority of Coloradans. Those who have wells and, therefore, water rights are allowed to have cisterns. I know it's a weird concept for people in wetter regions of the country, but in the west, the Colorado Compact ensures that there is enough water for everyone, meaning that those of us upriver have a responsibility to protect water access for those downriver.
Wow, I never knew...
I moved to Seattle three years ago and therefore water-conservation is now at the bottom of my list. I don't have a lawn, but I don't think twice about long showers (I don't, however, let the kids routinely use the master bathtub... it's bigger than a kiddie pool).
I can see how upstream folks have responsibility for those in lower land, but at the same time I would be pretty annoyed at the increasing growth of areas that lack the most basic life-sustaining resources.
To some extent that's us, too. The eastern side of Colorado is naturally very dry, but that's where most of us live. Much of our water comes from the western slope, where the residents aren't very happy with us either. In many ways, the water barrels aren't really a big deal, because we don't get a whole lot of rain. Even in winter, I have to water several of my trees and shrubs, which are eastern varieties planted by the original owners and poorly adapted to the upper plains.
So here's my confusion. They don't want you to impact the river for downstream towns, but, you're going to use muni water, which has been treated, because you can't use rain water. so your net consumption of water is greater, because you're using treated water. no?
Many of the regulations regarding stored water are for health reasons and not the ones you think. They are tied into mosquito abatement. All of a sudden, lots of people are putting out barrels and buckets to store rain water. Much if that water isn't used right away, well, because it is raining. What happens is that those open air water storage containers become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. We'll probably see a significant increase in mosquito problems later on.
There are very simple and environmentally safe ways to eliminate the problem but there is no public education system in place to get that information out.
In some parts you can't find water barrels or tanks, they are out of stock.
Regulatory agencies have yet to figure out that imposing a financial burden upon those who conserve only works for so long before people stop caring. Historically, rates for water increase as consumption goes down because the revenues are lower. When money coffers were flush, no real effort was made to prepare for droughts. Now that the droughts have arrived, it is panic time.
BTW, a few drops of a vegetable oil on open water in storage containers snuffs out mosquitoes, it suffocates them. The vegetable oil is about as harmless as you can get, costs very little and it works. That information or some other could easily be included with water bills but why do that when they can simply deny you the opportunity and raise water rates?
To some extent that's us, too. The eastern side of Colorado is naturally very dry, but that's where most of us live. Much of our water comes from the western slope, where the residents aren't very happy with us either. In many ways, the water barrels aren't really a big deal, because we don't get a whole lot of rain. Even in winter, I have to water several of my trees and shrubs, which are eastern varieties planted by the original owners and poorly adapted to the upper plains.
Lovely area though. We did a road trip last summer. We drove into Colorado from Nebraska, made a left in Denver and drove down to Colorado Springs and then further down and around to Great Sand Dune Natl Park before hitting up Durango area. I told my husband the only other area of the country I think I would like living in besides where I'm at would be Colorado and possibly San Diego, but I'm fond of the SoCal culture..
I moved to Seattle three years ago and therefore water-conservation is now at the bottom of my list. I don't have a lawn, but I don't think twice about long showers (I don't, however, let the kids routinely use the master bathtub... it's bigger than a kiddie pool).
I can see how upstream folks have responsibility for those in lower land, but at the same time I would be pretty annoyed at the increasing growth of areas that lack the most basic life-sustaining resources.
Yup.
When there are landslides that crush homes built on the sides of hills known to have stability problems, when people build in areas not suited for building, notice how when something happens we're all in this together?
Sure, now try to access some of the areas built up. Try getting past gates, private land use restrictions and fences. We're all in this together during the bad times only. In the good times, stay out, trespassing signs cordon off much of the land.
Many of the regulations regarding stored water are for health reasons and not the ones you think. They are tied into mosquito abatement. All of a sudden, lots of people are putting out barrels and buckets to store rain water. Much if that water isn't used right away, well, because it is raining. What happens is that those open air water storage containers become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. We'll probably see a significant increase in mosquito problems later on.
There are very simple and environmentally safe ways to eliminate the problem but there is no public education system in place to get that information out.
In some parts you can't find water barrels or tanks, they are out of stock.
Regulatory agencies have yet to figure out that imposing a financial burden upon those who conserve only works for so long before people stop caring. Historically, rates for water increase as consumption goes down because the revenues are lower. When money coffers were flush, no real effort was made to prepare for droughts. Now that the droughts have arrived, it is panic time.
BTW, a few drops of a vegetable oil on open water in storage containers snuffs out mosquitoes, it suffocates them. The vegetable oil is about as harmless as you can get, costs very little and it works. That information or some other could easily be included with water bills but why do that when they can simply deny you the opportunity and raise water rates?
fair enough, but mosquitos usually happen with open resting water, not so much a rain barrel. there's a lot of environmentally safe things you can spray your barrel with also. as you pointed out, the oil works well.
fair enough, but mosquitos usually happen with open resting water, not so much a rain barrel. there's a lot of environmentally safe things you can spray your barrel with also. as you pointed out, the oil works well.
Oh, I am not in favor of the regulations prohibiting rain barrels or other water storage solutions and in fact I think they are a good idea, I use them myself. The whole water thing is a warped problem for which planning would have provided solutions. Like highway construction, why make a 4 lane road when you can make a 2 lane road and then re-do it all over again in 5 years?
The water problem though, isn't going away in many places. Unfortunately, crisis is the easiest way for government to impose new regulations and restrict you from protecting yourself from these types of situations.
In California, they are talking about desalination. The issue is what to do about the brine that is a by-product of that process. The cons say that the technology hasn't matured enough to implement it on a large scale, yet 40 years ago when this same subject came up, nothing was done. Had desalination been started then, the technology would have been advanced sufficiently enough to implement it today. Again, why do that when water rationing, the inevitable rate hikes and tell on your neighbor programs can be used instead?
What the heck though, there are plenty of grapes and lots of ground water for that...until next year and then what?
Fresh water is the new oil! Wars will soon be fought over it.
Also (and you can quote me here) we will also soon be mining our dumps for materials we didn't use think were worth recycling. Aluminum, steel, copper, etc. It will be cheaper to dig up our old dumps than to create from virgin material. I actually wish that were the case right now. If all externalities (environmental damage, health, WATER POLLUTION) were taken into account, recycling would be much less expensive than mining and processing raw materials.
Water, water, everywhere, but nary a drop to drink
I've read that only about 3% of the water in the world suitable for drinking.
This article explains the legal issues around collecting rainwater in Colorado due to old water-rights laws, in easy to understand terms, and further clarifies the new law that was passed a few years ago that no allows some homeowners to collect rainwater as long as they meet specific conditions.
Simple pottery solar water stills are saving lives in Africa and Asia where the water is polluted. In the middle east, Israel in particular, large scale desalinization plants have been in use for decades. Large corporations are buying up the water rights for entire nations,
The extreme shortage of water in California right now is getting a lot of headlines. Spring planting in the Central Valley, "America's Salad Bowl," is down 25% this year because the farmers have been notified they won't be getting irrigation water this year.
Wars have been fought over oil. Now we're moving into an era in which wars may well be fought over water.
It pays to educate yourself about water, because it's going to be in the headlines from here on out...
I'm grateful that I live in a warm, rainy state. This is usually our dry season, but we got 3" of rain yesterday alone. I use a rain barrel for my garden when it gets really dry.
That photo was frightening. I wish people would be more careful (like subdivisions who water in the heat of the day and water the street instead of the landscaping)
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Water, water, everywhere, but nary a drop to drink
