Calif. Water Shortage To Be Bad

[Ron61]

Wes & Mike,

That is good. And a long time ago when I was working in Enterprise where we had to replace one of the 48V storage batteries I was talking to an engineer about the length of time the batteries could carry the machine before getting below the threshold level. One of the local women asked me how you stored electricity and I told her that over at the dam they had a big room made of rubber and it all went into there until needed. Then I forgot about it. A few weeks later I received a call whenever I was working then and it was her all upset. she had gone and told everyone she knew about how they stored electricity at the dam and now was the laughing stock of the city. Boy, did I get myself into trouble with some people when I was working and all of it I thought was so far out that no one would pay any attention to it.

Ron

[Silverback51]

The LA area has an ocean at it's doorstep and a desert not that far to the East. Pump the water to the desert and build desalinators. Pump it back to where it's needed.

[Ron61]

I saw a short blurb on the news two days ago that they may have to consider building desalinization plants in Southern Calif., as the supply from the Colorado River could dry up. And we sure don't have enough water up here any more to send down to them. They didn't say much about it except that the Governor of Nevada and Arizona had been meeting with our politicians and told them that their states came first. They should have built those plants years ago before it cost so much to do so. I do believe there may be war over food, water, and oil. To me food and water should come first. This country was settled without cars and trucks and may have to learn to survive without them. We can't build more dams as the Environmentalists won't allow that. No more refineries, same reason, so the amount of oil is irrelevant as the refineries are for the most part operating at capacity now. No more electric generating plants, same environmental crap.

Ron

[Wayne Maybury]

Electricity is probably the only area in which we get a real break here in Quebec. Almost all of our power is generated by hydro electric dams and we produce enough power that we fill all of our own demand plus we power most of Vermont and we also sell it to other states as well.

I have a big old 2 story house with a finished basement (really 3 stories) and an attached 2 car garage which is also heated all winter. We are 100% electric; heat, air conditioning, hot water, cooking, etc, etc. Heating in the winter accounts for about 2/3 of our total annual bill. My payments are just over $200 per month. If it wasn't so cold up here in the winter, my cost would be much lower.

One more thing, we don't have water meters so as long as no one reports me, I can water my lawn as much as I want at no charge. Of course that means that I have to cut the grass twice a week.

Wayne

[Excaliber]

Cisterns are really common on the Big Island of Hawaii, in many locations it is the ONLY source of water. One guy in California mentioned his water bill was about $25 a month, but then again, he wanted to sell me the house, so maybe that $25 when no one lived there!

[Ron61]

I don't water the lawns and use as little as I can when doing laundry and other things and my water bill runs around $17 to $27 per month. Most months it is under $20. But like everything else, the less people use the more they raise the rates. And if you use to much they fine you.

Warren,

Rubber Buckets work just fine for electricity. You just have to be careful when you start to take some out to use. Who would want to save steam?

Ron

[Sharroll Celby]

Originally Posted by Ron61

I don't water the lawns and use as little as I can when doing laundry and other things and my water bill runs around $17 to $27 per month. Most months it is under $20. But like everything else, the less people use the more they raise the rates. And if you use to much they fine you.

Warren,

Rubber Buckets work just fine for electricity. You just have to be careful when you start to take some out to use. Who would want to save steam?

Ron

This reminds me of how "smoke" is stored in electric wires, especially LUCAS wiring systems!!! lol !!!

[Sharroll Celby]

A LOT of the water California uses is to grow crops, i.e. FOOD for your tables.

[bomelia]

Originally Posted by Sharroll Celby

A LOT of the water California uses is to grow crops, i.e. FOOD for your tables.

Right. In the desert. Supply enough water and you can grow just about anything in the desert.

Mike

[Sharroll Celby]

Originally Posted by bomelia

Right. In the desert. Supply enough water and you can grow just about anything in the desert.

Mike

Um, no. California's Central Valley is NOT considered part of the desert that MUCH od SoCal is.

[bomelia]

Well, it soon will be.

Mike

[Ron61]

We may have more desert up here than we have now if this keeps up. They just announced the lake is at its lowest level for this time of year since 1972. And the price of house boats has gone up, and the price of gas at the marinas they wouldn't even give. I really don't see the tourist trade as bailing us out this year as reservations are way down already.

Ron

[Wes Tausend]

...

We have relatively cheap water here, I suppose because we live right on the Missouri River which is a fairly large stream fed by Montana Rockies snow-melt. Below, the water is a minor percentage of monthly billing.

. Our bill date for April 4/9/2008 was:

Water $14.75 (reg@ $2.46 per unit=100 cubic feet)
Water $00.00 (summer@ $1.90 per unit)
sewage $14.62
Garbage $9.55
Street light/signal mtc $$3.95
storm sewer mtc $2.75
serv line repair $1.00
Total $46.62 for month


. August 8/8/2007 (very dry - sprinkler system running)

Water $12.30 (reg@ $2.46 per unit=100 cubic feet)
Water $47.50 (summer@ $1.90 per unit)
Sewage$12.75
Garbage $9.55
Street light/signal mtc $$3.95
storm sewer mtc $2.75
serv line repair $00.00
Total $88.80

Electricity is medium-cost here, with ample hydro-power and coal plants. It's hard to pin it down because of floating cost adjustments.

It is not terribly unusual for someone to have a home-made shallow well here, especially in older parts of the city. I haven't sunk a sandpoint yet but I believe non-potable plant water is about 40 feet down. When I was a kid we lived near a smaller river and non-potable plant water was about 13 feet down, but soft potable at around 200 feet.

It is getting so wells are to be by permit only but I think one could still sneak in a sandpoint. But in order to save "buckets" of electricity, the squeaky windmill would be a dead give-away.


...

[wtm442]

Originally Posted by Wes Tausend

...

It is getting so wells are to be by permit only but I think one could still sneak in a sandpoint. ...

My friend in the next town that currently pays over $1200 a year for water assumes its going to increase by 10% per year, so he looked into getting a well. Wells are very rare around these parts. The town said having a well for watering the lawn, washing the car is OK. But if your water usage bill drops to nothing, the town health department automatically (by local regulation) will notify the police that the house is vacant and NOBODY can live in the house during that period. So he will be arrested.

[Ron61]

So, then use some of the local water to keep a small bill and the well for the rest. I don't think it is legal to drill around here at all any more. I haven't seen a well drilling rig for years. Maybe still up in the mountains where they don't have access to water.

Ron

[Wes Tausend]

Originally Posted by Ron61

So, then use some of the local water to keep a small bill and the well for the rest. I don't think it is legal to drill around here at all any more. I haven't seen a well drilling rig for years. Maybe still up in the mountains where they don't have access to water.

Ron

Ron,

That's why I think Robin Hood could sneak a little of the Kings water.

Check link: ( http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water...PointWells.pdf )

Originally Posted by wtm442

My friend in the next town that currently pays over $1200 a year for water assumes its going to increase by 10% per year, so he looked into getting a well. Wells are very rare around these parts. The town said having a well for watering the lawn, washing the car is OK...

Warren,

Heck, if a man can build a car, he could probably sink his own sandpoint while having fun and saving a few bucks. I watched my father do it several times when I was a kid. I didn't finish reading all of it, but the link given above seems pretty accurate.


...

[Cobrabill]

Originally Posted by wtm442

My friend in the next town that currently pays over $1200 a year for water assumes its going to increase by 10% per year, so he looked into getting a well. Wells are very rare around these parts. The town said having a well for watering the lawn, washing the car is OK. But if your water usage bill drops to nothing, the town health department automatically (by local regulation) will notify the police that the house is vacant and NOBODY can live in the house during that period. So he will be arrested.

Warren- i would really like to be arrested for NOT using city water.That really,REALLY would make my day.