Lake Mead water ... What will California do when it's gone??

One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
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33.8N - 118.4W
Detergents and organic solids are the main issues. The Shower and laundry grey water is the easiest/most practical for reuse as long as you are using the correct soaps/detergents. Dishwasher and sink grey water is difficult as you are often discharging solids.
My wife is from Venice Italy which as you may know has massive plumbing issues. Absolutely nothing solid goes down our kitchen sink drain.
 
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hammies

Duke status
Apr 8, 2006
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The solution is mitigation. Instead our political leaders and experts scream at the rain.
You can mitigate all you want but if it doesn't rain again next winter, everybody from Cheyenne to San Diego is fucked.
 
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grapedrink

Duke status
May 21, 2011
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A Beach
Detergents and organic solids are the main issues. The Shower and laundry grey water is the easiest/most practical for reuse as long as you are using the correct soaps/detergents. Dishwasher and sink grey water is difficult as you are often discharging solids.
My wife has amazing long hair that I'm grateful but man, when I need to clean out the U Joint pipe under the bathroom sink :barf: :barf: :barf: :barf: :barf:
 
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grapedrink

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May 21, 2011
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garbage disposals in rentals? yes or no. plumber telling me its more tourble than its worth?
Tough call. I feel like stuff will go down the drain either way so you may as well have one to grind it up. Then again, people are dumb and often try to grind up raw cabbage and other stuff that will never break down. Broken glass will also kill one instantly.

Maybe write into the lease that if it’s their fault it comes out of their deposit? Combine that with a list of do’s and don’t’s.
 

bluemarlin04

Michael Peterson status
Aug 13, 2015
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garbage disposals in rentals? yes or no. plumber telling me its more tourble than its worth?
If you don’t have one then make sure you get the sink without a drain hole for a garbage disposal so they can’t put anything down it.
 

Matilija

Gerry Lopez status
Oct 27, 2010
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Disposal for sure. I also have a clause that minor sink/toilet clogs are their responsibility. Don’t call me because you flushed stupid sh!t down my toilet or sink.
 
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ElOgro

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Dec 3, 2010
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garbage disposals in rentals? yes or no. plumber telling me its more tourble than its worth?
What’s the setup now? No gd? Grease trap?

If no gd and no history of clogged pipe I’d say no. We don’t have one, anything that would go down there gets composted.
 

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
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just got back from paddling the black canyon

launched right beneath hoover

i think the amoebas are eating my brain now
salt water >> fresh water

Not to put too fine a point on it, but we're all going to be svcking d1ck for a gallon of water.
 

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
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This is a pretty interesting video on how natural water storage works. If you imagine the CA central valley as one big pond before we drained it and the aquifer beneath it, it's obvious that there is no solution to CA's ag and water problems without fixing it.
Siphoning off the yearly runoff towards the Delta is just going to worsen the subsidence and increase the desertification upstream of the Delta which will worsen the Delta salinity and water levels. There's an analogous problem in the Eastern Sierra in NV.

I bet we're going to handle this problem the way we're handling the fire problem - with inaction.
 
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youcantbeserious

Billy Hamilton status
Oct 29, 2020
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Location location
This is a pretty interesting video on how natural water storage works. If you imagine the CA central valley as one big pond before we drained it and the aquifer beneath it, it's obvious that there is no solution to CA's ag and water problems without fixing it.
Siphoning off the yearly runoff towards the Delta is just going to worsen the subsidence and increase the desertification upstream of the Delta which will worsen the Delta salinity and water levels. There's an analogous problem in the Eastern Sierra in NV.

I bet we're going to handle this problem the way we're handling the fire problem - with inaction.
The issue with returning it to its original state (which only really flooded like that in massive high rainfall years, every couple decades) is that you would have to remove all the hydroelectric dams that provide the state with power (Edison Lake, Huntington Lake, etc.), and then remove all the irrigation canals and waterways that extend from the foothills to Kettleman City (the 5, essentially).

It's worse than that: the root problem is there are millions too many people living in and getting their food from (?!) a fucking desert. Make no mistake, that will change. It was unsustainable under normal circumstances. And we're not under normal circumstances.
 
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SurfFuerteventura

Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Sep 20, 2014
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Ribbit
The issue with returning it to its original state (which only really flooded like that in massive high rainfall years, every couple decades) is that you would have to remove all the hydroelectric dams that provide the state with power (Edison Lake, Huntington Lake, etc.), and then remove all the irrigation canals and waterways that extend from the foothills to Kettleman City (the 5, essentially).

It's worse than that: the root problem is there are millions too many people living in and getting their food from (?!) a fucking desert. Make no mistake, that will change. It was unsustainable under normal circumstances. And we're not under normal circumstances.
LA Done.

:waving::shaka:
 

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
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Rio Grande is now Rio Pequeno.

I like the videos PCRD posts, people problem solving, and human ingenuity kind of gives me hope....but I feel the large scale corporate farms will have a lot of difficulty adapting in time. Then again, sometimes it takes a crisis to get Americans to act...

These problems are technically solvable but I am not confident the collective will exists to solve them. A similar solution was proposed in Australia since they drained the aquifer in the Great BAsin. By the time you get to the end, you can see the whole thing will be tied up in red tape until a new civilization takes action. Think of Carthage and Rome.

It's like the fires - it's been 5 years since the Tubbs fire and how are we doing on brush remediation, controlled burns, etc?
 

r32

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 1, 2005
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Cambria
Now media is hyping super mega flood coming in next 40 years. You can't make this stuff up but they do. :roflmao:

 
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PRCD

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Feb 25, 2020
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