Thursday, November 6, 2014

A guest post from the duck!


I was asked to guest write this blog post about water conservation by the Empress because she knows conservation issues are near to my heart. 

For some reason, in the state of California a lot of home owner associations will not allow home owners to install artificial grass in place of real grass on their lawns. I will avoid the running off at the mouth about freedom of choice as I am not very familiar with HOA organizations, I have never had to deal with one.

The idea of not allowing a home “OWNER” to choose his or her own lawn needs during a period of drought as serious as this is just plain stupid, if you live in California please sign this petition it just makes good sense. If you don't like artificial grass, don't look at it, there is a big world out there to stare at. If someone wants to install this in order to save water then they absolutely should have that right and the Governor shouldn't need your petition signatures to see this but apparently Jerry Brown isn't that open minded….I digress.

I want use this platform to speak about the need to change the way we think about water. There is the same amount of water on planet earth today as there was in prehistoric times, but because we use 1900's technology to produce clean drinking water for people 99.99% of that water is off limits. That's right, worldwide 0.1% of the water that covers 70% of the planet is ready for us to drink.

California counts on snow melt from the Rocky Mountains and rain that comes two months per year to produce enough water to hydrate millions of people, water crops, and keep water available for livestock. This is proving to be a failed plan over the past few years as noted by the price of beef and fruits skyrocketing. This is DIRECTLY contributed to the deepest drought in California in decades. 

One leaky toilet can cost tens of thousands of gallons of water per year wasted back into the ocean times how many leaky toilets in California? Broken sprinkler heads (that wouldn't be needed if you sign above petition!), refilling pools after water evaporates out of them….and my absolute favorite 1.6 gallons of water each time we pee rolls directly back into the Pacific Ocean and goes on the off limits list. 38 million people urinate an average of four times per day adding up to an astounding 243 million gallons of water washed away per day with the pee in California alone. How much snow is that?

The long-term solution to this problem is a change in the way we look at water, bring the other 99.99% of water into play. This will not solve the problem today, but desalination plants can and will produce enough potable water to more than resolve the problem along the desert coast permanently! Does it cost a lot? YES! does California waste more money in other programs? YES! will building the plants help the economy? jobs, jobs, jobs! The REAL unemployment rate (people receiving unemployment benefits plus those that gave up) was 16.7% earlier this year in California, anyone think some plant manufacturing would boost the economy? maybe move some of the 5.6 billion dollars from the “general government” category of California's budget to really boosting the economy with some jobs. Once the plants are built, they need to be maned to run effectively, more jobs!

There are a few desalination plants in California now, San Diego receives enough desalinated water to handle the water needs of about 400,000 people per year in a city of 1.4 million and rising. The designated water covers approximately 7% of San Diego County's needs. The complaint is that it costs more than snow run-off to bring to homes, but if there is nothing left in the snow runoff pond left to bring, is it a cost issue or a survival issue?

I remember during a drought in Florida when I was young, my dad aka the Sarge told me not to worry….it will rain. Eventually the drought ended and the rains returned heavier than before. Mother Nature is moody and goes through swings back and forth, the media talks about the amount of rain versus the “average” rainfall which is an accumulation of wet and dry years divided by the number of years. The drought is bad, maybe the worst in memory….but it will rain one day, and then it will stop again. When we stop waiting for the rain and get proactive on the needs of our communities and do what we can from a technology standpoint to make sure that we have the resources necessary to survive. This is why we elect officials, to ensure that public health and needs are met. Water will ALWAYS be an issue in the desert, but that is why we have elections….so WE can hire the people willing to make the tough decisions to protect the needs of the people.

Just one guys opinion.
Chuck


11 comments:

  1. What a wonderful post! Totally agree with you, Chuck! Water conservation is so important
    Artificial turf saves water and California homeowners who live in HOA's should be allowed to install it!

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  2. Excellent post. Excellent.

    What Brown wants is the tunnels to take water from northern California (Delta) and sell it to the bay area and southern California. Follow the money. Brown is an idiot, but don't get me started. This state is run by the rich and environmentalists. A bad combination.

    Have a fabulous day honey. Big hugs to you and my best to Roche. ♥♥♥

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  3. Preach it, Chuck! Great post! Big hugs from the northwest.

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  4. Duck, I see good brains run in your family. :):) I agree. Let's get busy with those plants and jobs. You'll see once they legalize "pot" they'll want to water that stuff...LOL.Good grief. It'll be legalize too because they(government -big business )will want some of that money. Scoop over and let me on that soap box with you. LOL. Gaa, don't get me started. I think we all need rain barrels too...Glad you could do a post today. xoxo, aunt Susie

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  5. Dang Duck..I mean scoot over. Haha I got carried away. xoxo,Susie

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  6. Great post. We're in a terrible drought in the Dallas area and you can walk across parts of our lakes. I wonder why on earth they don't dredge them deeper now. Also, I wonder why we store water in lakes where so much of it will evaporate. Sealed tanks would make better sense.

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  7. Great post today Chuck.
    I lived in Arizona and California for most of my life.
    California is so bat shit crazy liberal that they can't see anything but their liberal agenda. Most people even the news didn't call Governor Brown "Captain Moonbeam" for nothing his first terms. Now he is the norm. How times have changed.
    Did you know Opera has been trucking water, at great expense, in to keep her grass green ?
    Meanwhile the Owens Valley has been supplying water to LA. their Lake is growing smaller every year and filled with salt. The Valley was full of fruit and nut trees, no longer.
    Every Republican Governor left office with money in the bank. Every Democrat Governor spent it like no tomorrow. Leaving huge deficits when leaving. Just google Grey Davis.
    And I am a registered Democrat ! ! !
    Anyways I have lived through several droughts and cut backs in California. But being raised in Tucson, Arizona you learn about water and the need to conserve.

    I am happy to know someone is noticing this. I wish I could sign your petition but lucky me I moved from California to Arizona.

    cheers, parsnip

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  8. Yes Sir !! Seems to me the States looking to lace thier pockets on artificial grass fees they could charge. I have a few customers with this artificial grass. Looks great, no watering, low maintenance other than raking n blower. Sending my family and friends in California to sign ! Great work Chucker ! Does greed override commonsense ? And doing whats right ! They should five homeowners a tax break to install this grass. Can ease the strain of the dwindling water supply. Peace Bro !

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  9. in this new century water has shown to be the number one issue across the world..time for americans to not to take for granted what the rest of the world feels is a blessing

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  10. Excellent!!! I've seen fields that have had their orange/almond trees plowed under. Makes me sick. Along with Sandee and Angry Parsnip, the uber Libs in CA are destroying our economy and everyone will be feeling the pain. Because of the Delta Smelt, and fear of its demise (good riddance!), a lot of CA water in the north goes smack dad into the ocean.
    And Gov. Moonbeam is riding his bullet train to nowhere like Pancho Sanchez, tilting at windmills.
    Sad state of affairs...

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