water foibles

It has been said that water will be the new oil. Severe water shortages are predicted for large parts of the world in the decades to come. It is but one side-effect of global warming and one that is generally ignored in the press. More people know of the dangers of polar ice melting with a resulting rise in sea-levels. Rising sea levels evoke images of flooding and an abundance of water. But sea water is salty and the more sea levels rise the further salt will intrude into rivers and streams. From there it goes into the groundwater. Salt water is killer for many plants, including food crops. For a land that relies on irrigation, rising salt water is deadly.

Meanwhile in California, we are getting dumped on like there is no tomorrow. The runoff is about to start flooding communities that just recently recovered from devastating floods. It is also causing mudslides, road closures, power failures, and other havoc to people's lives. However it is filling up reservoirs and that is good news for next summer. No matter how bad it gets in winter, we all know California will go through five to seven months with not a drop of rain to be seen.

I can't help but wonder why people let all this water go. Why California does not have mandatory rain water collection. Adding an underground storage tank that holds 1,000 gallons or more would not be that hard to do. But unless code requires it I cannot see many builders going ahead and doing it. Even though it would add at most a few thousand dollars to the price of the home. Given that homes (still) sell for upwards of $500K around here -and most are upwards of $1MM- it would seem trivial to add a $5,000 expense.

Unfortunately water tanks are not sexy. Not like granite countertops, "professional kitchens," and hardwood floors. All items that show a great indifference towards natural resources. Why people need professional kitchens beats me. Most go out several times a week for dinner alone. And the other nights they probably heat up a take-home pizza. But that is another story, much like driving an eight cylinder four wheel drive in everyday commute traffic.

An underground tank alone is not sufficient to solve all problems but it is a start. We would also need to add an irrigation system that uses the tank and the tank only. Since we have sun whenever it does not rain, a solar pump would do just fine. Irrigation with rain water is a first step. Even better would be to lay plumbing so toilets and showers can use rainwater too. That gets a bit more involved. Another item that would work well is washing machines. Most commonly used top load models are real water hogs, something that you would notice if you ever tried to fill a machine with hand carried water.

The current wave of storms is predicted to dump anywhere between 4 and 7 inches on the SF Bay Area. It is the second big storm wave of 2008. The previous wave dumped an equal amount and caused a ton of trouble. I read somewhere that 1 inch of rain on a 1,000 sq foot roof yields 600 gallons of water. Most houses around here have more roof area than that. Whatever the true number may be, an average middle class home in Marin could collect in excess of 4,200 gallons per storm. That is enough water to fill a small pool. The drier parts of the Bay Area would still collect 2,400 gallons or more. Yesterday I filled a 55 gallon rain barrel in less than two hours using runoff from just one waterspout.

Rain barrels are a great way to get into rain water collection. The best part is probably the education because they are not all that practical in California. The barrels are simply too small and the dry period too long. One would need in excess of 50 barrels to achieve some real results. But barrels are a great teaching tool and I would recommend that you get some. If nothing else you will learn first hand how much water a storm dumps. And how much water we waste going about our everyday routines.

I would recommend that you start carrying some water around. It will give you a feel for the power needed to haul heavy items. A better appreciation for the wasteful nature of our existence, and what it will be like when we run out of resources.