Archive for April, 2009
Water Official Send Out Patrols: $500 Fine
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April 28th, 2009
Santa Cruz takes on some drastic measures, but for a good cause obviously. Water restrictions will begin Friday for about 90,000 residents from the North Coast to Capitola, after Santa Cruz leaders on Tuesday unanimously approved an emergency order to save water. I’d rather see their energy put towards rolling out a rebate program for something like the One2flush.
The proposed measures go further than conservation rules enforced in 2007, when residents were asked to water only in the early morning or at night, and are the strictest since 1990, when water was rationed. Chronic rule breakers could be fined up to $500. Read the entire article in the San Jose Mercury News here.
Dual-Flush Rebate: Discarded Toilets In Landfills
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Literally, a pile of broken toilets. We need to save water and installing a dual-flush toilet does contribute towards good water conservation. The good news: 10,500 dual-flush toilets were sold in one day under Winnipeg’s $50 rebate incentive. The bad news: No one anticipated 10,500 older-style toilets would be replaced. Click here to read the article published on April 24th, 2009.
Do the math…a $50 rebate against the cost of a dual-flush toilet ranging in price from $179 to $500…(not including installation) is not that compelling to homeowners short of the fact that they are facing a higher water bill or mandatory rationing. But they do it, since it’s the “right” thing to do and they are banking on a payback with with the reduced water bill. And let’s not forget the negative impact on the environment with all those toilets headed for the landfill.
The next logical step: Achieve dual-flush water savings for less than $45 in total and keep your old toilet by simply installing a dual-flush toilet kit into your existing toilet. Why say goodbye to an old friend? Click here for more info on dual-flush toilet kits.
Editorial: Water Conservation Bills Worth Backing
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April 25th, 2009
A great editorial in today’s Sacramento Bee…
California is no stranger to drought, though collective memory tends to recede in wet years. During the droughts of 1976-1977 and 1987-1992, Californians supported conservation measures. And those helped lower the burden on water supplies that comes with new housing developments.
AB 300 and AB 1408 call for (among other things) builders to use voluntary water-saving measures (irrigation control, efficient appliances, leak detection kits, automated metering, rainwater harvesting, water recycling) or pay into a conservation fund. Read the entire editorial here.
Rainwater Lost To Sea: Time For Rainwater Harvesting
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SA Opposition leader Martin Hamilton-Smith says recent rainfall is being lost to sea.
I live in Northern California and have seen how much rainwater literally flows right out to sea from our creeks and streams. The ground soaks up what it can, and the rest? Channeled out to sea. Creeks and streams are vital habitats that certainly need to be preserved, but a thoughtful approach to the collection of rainwater by both homeowner and cities/government needs to be examined. Rainwater harvesting is something everyone needs to wake up to.
Australia certainly is in the midst of a huge drought situation and South Australian Opposition leader Martin Hamilton Smith says, “We’re in the midst of our worst drought in history and look what’s happening today and over the weekend, millions of litres of water flushing out into the gulf..” Read the entire article here from ABC news.
Cow Sh*t To Clean Water-LifeStraw
Posted by: | CommentsThis is the video showing LifeStraw staff (including CEO Mikkel Vestergaard) literally demonstrating this life-saving device by drinking cow-dung water. Not pretty to look at, be warned that what you are about to see is not a stunt, but actual cow dung mixed with puddle water and then filter through the system…and they all drank it. A graphic demonstration yes, but the system works! LifeStraw literally removes the bacteria, viruses, protozoa….gone. There pop-up Google ads in this video, but that’s okay, you’ll want to see this.
Now, how can you get involved while build your urban dam?
