Water Woes

High nitrates in the water will also cause accelerated erosion & pinholes in copper pipes.  We know first hand.  Improper grounding doesn't help either.  I have a feeling that our old solar panes & recirculating system had something to do with it too.  Haven't had that system running in nearly 20+ years so can't 100% attribute this factor.

Still catching water from the showed & I scoop out a large percentage from the kids bathwater.  Makes good for flushing, plants, etc...

Latest data shows 12% of normal (water equiv.) snowpack. Reservoir storage in bad shape as well. It's a baddy indeed.

They will be limited in ability to keep salt water out of the Delta (could affect the Tracy pumping plant/Cal. Aqueduct).

They won't be able to produce much in the way of hydro electricity from the super low reservoirs in California this year. Pacific Northwest isn't doing that great either as far as rain/water supply goes. They'll sell us power at top dollar prices. Our utility bills will likely see a hit.

Unless some huge/wet storms start hitting in Feb./Mar. we may be the only watercraft able to fish what's left of our dried up lakes/reservoirs by this summer.

I just hope that this developing crisis gets people to quit playing games and make serious effort to EXPAND capacity at (at least) Folsom and Shasta. No need to build more dams, just expand our present capacity. This will most certainly help us and also help our Sacramento River chinook salmon situation and allow more cool-water releases during prime spawning times on the Sac/American in future years.   

Noticed that the toilet in my rear bathroom was starting an very intermittent leak.  Replaced the gasket today.  Went ahead and replaced the one in the other bathroom too.

Also attended to the the hot water heater.  It's been rattling lately.  Flushed it out.  I was surprised by the amount of sand/sediment.

It's been a plumbers kind of morning.

-Allen

We set up a water reduction plan at work with less frequent safety level vehicle washing and changes to some other types of water intensive practices.

-Allan

Cutting our water use at home also decreased our home energy bill by 25% (water heater & clothes dryer).

On a not so good note.....

   I drive by about 6 miles of various Ag. fields on my way to work each day.  Saddened to see them out running the sprinklers this am WHILE IT WAS RAINING OUT.  Anyone have a clue what is up with this?  I understand they need a specific amount of water based on the age of the plant, etc...  but why water KNOWING it is presently raining?  I was REALLY saddened this past weekend to see, it a nearby strawberry field, a main water line (~10") busted off spewing water 20' in the air & the entire field flooded out & not a person in site.

This rain isn't suppose to be much. Saturday yes more, I think they are watering so the ground will take more water in deeper. Like when you put water on real dry soil it takes awhile for that water to soak in. I think they are trying to get ahead of the game. 

High nitrates in the water will also cause accelerated erosion & pinholes in copper pipes.

Interesting point.  To make nitric acid you need nitrate, water, copper, and an acid.  Likely that over time in copper pipes with a water pH below 7,  some level of nitric acid is created.

I would also be curious to what you are calling high levels of nitrate?   Professional inquiry mostly.  Trying to always know what is going on below the surface and where.

We had our water tested, profesionally, by one of our very own members here who is a Remediation Specialist.  I would have to look at the report to see what the Nitrate levels were.  KSBW had a report a while back that stated most of the valley & coastal areas (where all the CA farming happens) has high Nitrate levels in the groud water supply.  It was below the threshold of "don't drink" but in the "unsafe for infants, elderly & ill" levels from what I remember them reporting.  I'll see what I can dig up.

last Sunday I finally took the time to pull the old pressure tank from my junk pile and rig it up as a rain catchment barrel.
I used the existing plumbing, just put a garden faucet on it. Cut a hole in the top of the tank, blasted out the old gunk inside, then cut one of our corner gutter downspouts and reversed the bottom elbow to feed the downspout directly into the tank.

checked it yesterday thinking it would be 1/2 full hopefully, but it was already brimful! 220 gallons of garden water that will gravity feed to the plants.

Did something similar with a large cauldren we use for big-time halloweem parties.  This holds several hundred gallons.  Should hold enough water to supply us thru the summer watering the few potted plans we have left.  I want to do the same thing with our downspots like you mentioned 

Question;
The local water company in El Dorado County; EID, said that they may impliment a surcharge of 50% on water use.  My question; what do they do with a 50% increase in revenue?  It's not like they are going out to buy the water with it, just sounds like price gouging to me.  I understand a penalty for using more than necessary, say, 100 gallons per person per household on properties with yards and 50 gallons for properties without yards like apartments and such.  But just slapping every body, even those who are already conserving is pretty heartless. 
I'm already paying more than $100 a month for water.  That's more than my electric bill, my phone bill, my cable bill, my internet bill, my propane bill, my property tax, my home owner's insurance.  It is the single most expensive recurring bill I have and they want to threaten  me with bumping it up by 50%??!! 

Supposidly they DO go out & purchase water with it.

Question;
The local water company in El Dorado County; EID, said that they may impliment a surcharge of 50% on water use.  My question; what do they do with a 50% increase in revenue?  It's not like they are going out to buy the water with it, just sounds like price gouging to me.  I understand a penalty for using more than necessary, say, 100 gallons per person per household on properties with yards and 50 gallons for properties without yards like apartments and such.  But just slapping every body, even those who are already conserving is pretty heartless. 
I'm already paying more than $100 a month for water.  That's more than my electric bill, my phone bill, my cable bill, my internet bill, my propane bill, my property tax, my home owner's insurance.  It is the single most expensive recurring bill I have and they want to threaten  me with bumping it up by 50%??!!

I think the answer is in your repsonse Jerry! If you hate paying a $100/mo. you are going to hate paying more a month, so they think you are going to look for ways to reduce your useage! But yes, its gouging, remember EID was relying on 30% of their annual budget coming from new home hookups, and that dried up before the drought started.

All i know is during these last two storms I have never seen so much water fall from the sky, drop in the bucket my ass! I heard a guy on the radio the other day descibe the last "atmospheric river" that hit us was carrying the equivalent of 10X the volume of water in the Mississippi River! But we still haven't made a dent..

I have to give the Farmer's Almanac credit though, they predicted dry OCT-JAN, with only one major strorm per mo. in OCT, NOV and DEC, with increasing precip Mid-Jan and an all-out wet-fest for FEB, I know we still need more water to end the drought, but I think they nailed it this year!

It is getting pretty tiresome to hear, storm after storm, that it's a 'non event', but in the next sentence telling me to not flush my pee until after I poop!  Either a 20' elevation rise in Folsom Lake IS an event worthy of note, or if it isn't, then flushing an extra flush or two a day is also not an event. 

I just called EID.  Last January I lost my residential ag rate due to some Federal requirement.  My water bill increased by 150% since then.  Beginning THIS January, my water bill was increased by 5%.  Now they want another 15% if we all don't cut back by 30% in use.  The lady on the phone told me that it's an across-the-board increase because they don't have the staff or resources to handle it any other way.  So, all those folks in El Dorado Hills, with their big expensive homes; do you think THEY give a darn about another hundred bucks or so to keep their landscaping green or doing their 'delicates' in the laundry that isn't a full load?  No.  They will not bat an eye.  In the meantime, some guy like me, a retiree 'gentleman' farmer with a few chickens, a couple pigs, some fruit trees, nut trees, a garden and the usual yard and plants is going to have to pick up that extra fee because of all those over priced lawyers and such down in El Dorado Hills!! 
It ticks me off that Folsom Lake had so much water this time last year that was released due to water mismanagement.  But maybe it's not mismanaged.  Maybe it's their plan all along to control another critical infrastructure.  And why not?  If we are all so dependent on gas that they can charge what they do for that resource, then why not water too?  This government is constantly looking for ways to tell you and me what and how we can live our lives to the point that they spill water from our reservoirs to justify their pipelines and aquaducts.  Speaking of which; while the news stations were all pointing their cameras at the Nimbus Dam when they reduced flows, did any of you look over their shoulder at the aquaduct?  It was full and running as much as I've ever seen it.  That' bull!! 

Sorry to rant.  Just seems all I get from our government, weither it's a little municipal water district, or the feds, is a way to find what money I do manage to hang onto in my wallet and take it from me. 

The problem we face, at our place, is our own self-conservation.  We do not have access to city municipalities for water or sewer.  We are on our own with well water and the lack of rainfall for the pase several years has taken a serious evvect on the water table & replenishment rate.  Just 4-5 years ago we were able to run the well pump (underground) almost continuous (filled a 2500 gallon storage tank over a 2 day period just because it was more convenient for us.  The well itself didn't have an issue.  We now cannot run more than 8 minutes before we start pulling air.  Granted, the well is recovering reasonably fast but I still have the pump set to allow a 90minute "recovery" time period.  In short, we went from running hours to running minutes between recovery.  If we run out, there is nobody there to bail us out & they say it could be a decade or more before city water is brought to our area.