Mam, you are out of water because town wells are dry

[bcguy]

Imagine this happening to your house,neighborhood, or town??? Vancouver had the foresight to build a massive storage system in the mountains to avoid such a thing.

I guess it also could be drought/global warming but also, over population and not enough water to help the locals.

CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News

[applepansy]

Some of it is hotter weather. Some of it is poor planning. Some of it is allowing more water permits than water supply.

Another reason to store water.

[bcguy]

I wonder if this is the same town?

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures: Drought-Stricken Texas Town to Recycle Urine - TIME NewsFeed

[slamjet]

For some reason, my gag reflexes seem to be going into overdrive.

[pam]

I wonder if this is the same town?

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures: Drought-Stricken Texas Town to Recycle Urine - TIME NewsFeed

Well seeing how the first link is in Kemp, Texas and the second link is referring to Big Spring, Texas..doesn't look like it. The question easily solved by actually going to the links you provided.

[NeuroTypical]

Most of the water in the counties around me, is drilled out of aquifers that were made a gazillion years ago. Aquifers that only decrease - rain water takes too long to get back down there to replace it. New development has to pass some "300 year" test of some kind.

It's vaguely concerning to a lot of people here. The science is based on guesses and there is a fair amount of disagreement.

[Gwen]

I don't see the big fuss about the "urine recycling" many big cities do it. Every time you flush your toilet, run the sink, diswasher, laundry, etc you put water into the sewer. That water goes to a treatment plant where it's cleaned, filtered, etc and then reprocessed to go back to your sink, toilet, etc.

Ever seen the articles about the amount of hormones and drugs in your drinking water? How do you think it got there? The body doesn't process every drop of what we put in our bodies. Extra hormones, drugs (prescription and illegle), etc get flushed out of our systems in our urine. We flush that down the toilet, it goes to the treatment system who can take out a lot of things but there is no process to remove the drugs and hormones so they just go right back around. So yes if you live in such a city you are drinking some woman's used birth control pills. :)

My town doesn't have a treatment plant. I've have called our city and asked... If all power is out, no back up's, etc... at the current usage rate how long until I turn on my sink and there is no water. We only have a couple days on hand.

We are on the river so with a good filter we could have water for a very long time... we just have to go fetch it.

[Over43]

I had an epiphony last year while lounging in the Caribbean. I was on a small island, no lakes or rivers, etc. I asked a local where they got their fresh water. He immediately took me for a citizen of the United States and explained to me that they desalinate their water.

The more I thought about it, the more I thought, that after intial expenses, the US should look at this option. Cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, etc. won't be able to keep up with demands. Or desalinated water can be used for agriculture (95% of water in California is used for agribusiness) and stored water can be used for cities.

But, Personal water storage is still smart.

[slamjet]

They opened a desalinization plant in Santa Barbara with huge fan-fair. It never went online and is now stripped of all machinery.

We are a State of forward thinkers... NOT!

[Blocky]

Desalination is expensive! A lot of citizens of Santa Cruz, Ca want to, but it's not an affordable option. We have reservoirs, and aquifers, but we still have treatment plants that we use first so we can keep the reserves up.

[bcguy]

Its all a interesting concept.

I wonder if the tonight show or letterman show will make jokes about what this city is doing?

BTW, there is a HUGE well, big for the area, property next to my parents. It cannot perk. To much clay. Is it even remotely possible to dig deeper past clay based ground to eventually hit sand? I would love to own that property some day.

But my first pick, is Bellingham property! or anything north of there. Right along the water, and few people still!!! Upper Washington where it is still fairly undeveloped north of Bellingham is soo nice. Getting away from over populated areas and being close to water is what I wish for!

We have lots of water and always will with our wet winters.

Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism | Travel, Hotel and Visitor Information

[O2BNSD]

I came across a very interesting thing about Colorado...you cannot own any rain collecting &/or storage systems whatsoever!! The state of Colorado lays claim on all rainwater rights & it is illegal for residents to collect & store rainwater! I have a coworker that lives there & they were remodeling their home. He had mentioned about the landscaping problems he was having. I told him to check into the rain collection systems & make use of all the rain they get. He told me they were illegal. I thought he was pulling my leg until I researched it myself & found that he was correct!! Most ridiculous thing I have ever come across!!

Edited August 14, 2011 by O2BNSD

[bcguy]

How dare they play with the lives of people who own there own land! I bet you can challenge that in court. According to realestate laws, if you own your own land, you own everything up to space, and to the center of the earth.

You know, just because the state makes it a law, does not mean its right. I would bury my own under ground water storage and totally forget it even exist.

[bcguy]

Looks like china is having there own drought issues.

China's growing water crisis – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs

[pam]

I came across a very interesting thing about Colorado...you cannot own any rain collecting &/or systems whatsoever!! The state of Colorado lays claim on all rainwater rights & it is illegal for residents to collect & store rainwater! I have a coworker that lives there & they were remodeling their home. He had mentioned about the landscaping problems he was having. I told him to check into the rain collection systems & make use of all the rain they get. He told me they were illegal. I thought he was pulling my leg until I researched it myself & found that he was correct!! Most ridiculous thing I have ever come across!!

This law actually changed in 2009 making it legal.

[john doe]

How dare they play with the lives of people who own there own land! I bet you can challenge that in court. According to realestate laws, if you own your own land, you own everything up to space, and to the center of the earth.

You know, just because the state makes it a law, does not mean its right. I would bury my own under ground water storage and totally forget it even exist.

Not so fast. In many places you can own the land, but someone else can come in and buy the mineral rights underneath your property. They can legally mine under your house. And I dare you to try to stop someone flying an airplane over your land sometime.

[bcguy]

In a real estate course I attended long ago, my instructor said, "you own the land to the center of the earth to the sky". I guess what he was referring to was you hold right to build up or down.

Anyway, I did not know how widespread the drought issue was in texas when I looked at the national drought map. WOW. It covers almost the entire state.

US Drought Monitor

[KrazyKay]

As someone currently living in south-east Texas, I can tell you that if - and that is a bug if, if it rains there will be thousands to millions of people out in the streets dancing and enjoying the rain.

It seems like our news stations here spend half the broadcast talking about the drought. They mention this drought could continue well into next year and perhaps the year after

Edited August 14, 2011 by KrazyKay

[john doe]

In a real estate course I attended long ago, my instructor said, "you own the land to the center of the earth to the sky". I guess what he was referring to was you hold right to build up or down.

It depends on where you live. Here is a link to a good basic discussion of mineral rights in the US. Mineral Rights | Oil & Gas Lease and Royalty Information

[O2BNSD]

This law actually changed in 2009 making it legal.

Actually, that's not quite right...what they did in 2009 was to allow a Colorado resident to apply for a permit to install a roof rain collection system, but you must qualify & most of the time it will be denied. As I said, I have a coworker that lives there & they have not been able to get around the law & the requirements to be able to do so.

[pam]

My point was that it was not altogether illegal since 2009 as was stated.

[Dravin]

BTW, there is a HUGE well, big for the area, property next to my parents. It cannot perk. To much clay. Is it even remotely possible to dig deeper past clay based ground to eventually hit sand? I would love to own that property some day.

It's possible, in fact no small number of aquifers are constrained by clay (it's what lets an artesian well have pressure, the water is trapped in an aquifer under pressure between aquatards* such as clay). That said you can also punch through an aquatard and not find an aquifer below it such as sand, gravel, or pourous stone (and even if you do, it then needs to be saturated with water).

* Though it sounds like an insult to be used against someone who can't swim, it's a real word.

Interesting side note, Ireland is currently in a drought, not that I would have known had a tour guide not pointed it out to me.

Edited August 14, 2011 by Dravin

[pam]

Interesting side note, Ireland is currently in a drought, not that I would have known had a tour guide not pointed it out to me.

Well you didn't get ice did you?

[Gwen]

I came across a very interesting thing about Colorado...you cannot own any rain collecting &/or storage systems whatsoever!! The state of Colorado lays claim on all rainwater rights & it is illegal for residents to collect & store rainwater! I have a coworker that lives there & they were remodeling their home. He had mentioned about the landscaping problems he was having. I told him to check into the rain collection systems & make use of all the rain they get. He told me they were illegal. I thought he was pulling my leg until I researched it myself & found that he was correct!! Most ridiculous thing I have ever come across!!

This law actually changed in 2009 making it legal.

Actually, that's not quite right...what they did in 2009 was to allow a Colorado resident to apply for a permit to install a roof rain collection system, but you must qualify & most of the time it will be denied. As I said, I have a coworker that lives there & they have not been able to get around the law & the requirements to be able to do so.

So if it rains to the point of a flood can you sue the state to pay for repairs? It was their water that destroyed your property.

[O2BNSD]

So if it rains to the point of a flood can you sue the state to pay for repairs? It was their water that destroyed your property.

Oh Gwen - that is too, too funny!! Yep, that would make sense, huh?!