Dietrich studies new water conservation policy

By John Plestina
Times-News correspondent

DIETRICH - As an incentive to make people think about water conservation, the Dietrich City Council wants to make it more expensive to dump city water on grass.

A new water rate structure is in the offing, but the city is not ready to hold a required public hearing yet.

The need to put a damper on drinking water going on lawns became acute when the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality found deficiencies in the well at Dietrich's K-12 school.

That part of the equation appears resolved. Council-man Daryl Ballard told the council Monday night that the school district is now using canal water to irrigate a majority of the football field.

With a need to disconnect the school well from the system, the city capped the line Saturday and installed two check valves to prevent back flow from the school.

"If you don't use water to irrigate, (the flat rate for water) is going to cost you $60," said Mayor Don Heiken.

The school district has been paying a flat rate of $92.50 monthly for water.

"Our well was running 18 to 19 hours a day to keep up," he said.

To help solve a need for a new well, the council heard a proposal from Keller Associates, an engineering firm that is vying for a contract to design a new well and secure financing for the city.

"What to do to find additional water for the city," said Engineer Charles Brockway, consulting with Keller Associates. "Rule No.1 in terms of water supply, you never have enough."

The city has two existing water rights. The oldest dates to 1910 and a newer right was issued in 1992. Irrigation is permitted with those water rights. Irrigation is not permitted with new water rights.

While there is a moratorium on new water rights, municipalities are exempt.

Brockway told the council that they would probably find water between 300 and 400 feet with 500 feet being a recommended depth.

"So the water is way down there, and you've got to go get it," he said.

Brockway recommended a 12-inch diameter hole with casing all the way down.

via Lintcoat

Whether it's quilted, cottony-soft or recycled, toilet paper still has a long way to go before it eschews the dubious honour of being an ubiquitous symbol of a wasteful society. So it's always a good idea to: a) not use too much; b) to get treeless TP; or c) to just get a bidet (psst... it's actually cleaner). It's also worth repeating that if everyone used toilet paper like we did, there would be no forests left. But this humble roll can change.

Well-known for his innovative use of paper as a structural element, architect Shigeru Ban also turned his attention to re-conceptualizing the roll itself in a 2000 exhibition called Re-Design: Daily Products of the 21st Century. Ban reduced the amount of paper that rolls off the tube by making it square instead of round, so that what you take is what you really need. According to Adbusters, Ban also designed the roll to actually speak as well:

Rob Finch/The OregonianThe Regional Water Providers Consortium has tips on conserving water but still giving your garden the moisture it needs.

Home irrigation and automatic timing systems were meant to take the hassle out of watering your veggie garden or lawn.

But the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District reminds us that even a sophisticated irrigation system can be wasteful if it doesn't take into account weather conditions.

On its Web site, the district recommends signing up for the weekly watering number through the Regional Water Providers Consortium.

The consortium of 24 water providers and the Metro regional government, which work together on regional water issues, provides a mother lode of conservation tips on its Web page -- including the weekly watering number.

Weather conditions affect a plant evapotranspiration -- the water lost by evaporation through the soil and by the plant's transpiration. That's why you need to water more during the hottest, driest days of summer.

With information from a weather forecasting service, the consortium tells you how much to water based on your location and the weather. The number is sent by email every Thursday through September.

Program the number into your automated irrigation system, or adjust it for more manual watering.

The number is based on what a grass lawn needs but can be converted for other plants. Trees and shrubs need about half of the weekly watering number. A veggie garden needs 75 percent of the weekly recommendation -- more if you're watering starts.

Rain barrels help tap into water conservation in Peoria

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RON JOHNSON/JOURNAL STAR

Rain barrels like these in use at Luthy Botanical Gardens are in demand by those who want to conserve water and save on their water bill.

PEORIA- The barrels selling like hotcakes throughout the state appear like something that should store whiskey or pickles.

But water? That doesn't sound exciting. Plus, shouldn't water be flushed down the toilet, spat into a sink or rinsed into a drain?

Au contraire. In fact, collecting water in a rain barrel is becoming so popular that the city of Peoria is taking orders and selling barrels at the Public Works Department at City Hall. Already, there are 80 barrels contracted to be sold, and a shipment is expected in a couple of weeks.

For $52.92, someone can buy a 55-gallon black rain barrel that hooks up to a home's gutters and stores water for future use, such as watering gardens, washing cars or bathing pets.

"It's a neat program," Public Works Director David Barber said Wednesday. "The idea is we'll buy rain barrels and resell them to the community and encourage (residents) to start doing something with the environment to help reduce run-offs within the yards."

The city's program is just one of many that has generated interest both locally and statewide.

CALIFORNIA BRIEFING

Mandatory DWP Water
Conservation Begins

Updated: Monday, 01 Jun 2009, 5:57 AM PDT
Published : Monday, 01 Jun 2009, 5:51 AM PDT

• Text story by City News Service
• Posted by: Dennis Lovelace

Los Angeles (myFOXla.com) - Beginning Monday, Department of Water and Power customers must cut water consumption by 15 percent or pay a higher rate.

As part of a mandatory water conservation program in response to a three- year drought, lawn watering is also restricted to Mondays and Thursdays.

The new rates and restrictions will be in place until more water supplies become available, and come less than a year after the city approved an ordinance aimed at reducing water consumption.

Rainy days may bring you down, but they also could come in handy to help bring down your water bill -- as well as your impact on the environment.

Aquarion Water Co. is selling 55-gallon rain barrels to area residents for $79.95, a price that’s below the average retail cost of $120.

"Rain barrels have been around for a while," Len DeJong, who heads up watershed and environmental management for the water company. "But now, more people are paying attention to the environment. I’m seeing them advertised a lot more."

On Golf Courses, Sensors Help Save Water-
Golf accounts for 0.5 percent of annual water usage in the United States

“We have actually cut in half the amount of water we were using,” he said. “To me, it sort of shows that the sky is the limit with this technology.”

Wireless sensors were little more than a rumor in those days, but Shaffer trusted Latshaw, followed the advice and installed a product called RZ Wireless before the championship. The technology helped him enjoy four years of successful water conservation. Although doubtful he could improve on what he had, Shaffer decided last month to upgrade his system with a promise of even greater savings.

“I am probably known as one of the best waterers,” Shaffer, the club’s director of golf operations, said in a recent interview. “And I thought, man, I don’t know why I’m getting these sensors because I know I’m dry.”

He added: “Well, what I thought was dry isn’t even my baseline. These sensors are just so much more sensitive, so much better, so much more complete. I am now hooked. I’m a sensor addict.”

This is a green addiction with the potential to spread, with more than 20 states affected by some form of drought and water restrictions a daily reality in cities across the nation.

At least three companies are competing in the market for subterranean wireless sensors, which monitor moisture, temperature and salinity in the soil and feed the data to a software network accessed remotely on a laptop, a handheld device or a desktop computer. The system could be used far beyond the golf course — on other athletic fields, in agriculture, in both home and commercial landscaping, and in parks.

Early adopters say they will cut an average of 10 percent of their typical water use, amounting to millions of gallons of water each year. At that rate, the system would pay for itself within the first year, depending on the volume of water a course uses.

“We were a very efficient operation to start with,” said Shawn Emerson, the superintendent at Desert Mountain Golf Club, a complex of six courses with 500 acres of turf in the desert Southwest. “With these sensors, we only water when the soil tells us it needs to be watered.”

He said the club would save a total of more than 100 million gallons of effluent water, or an average of between 18 million and 20 million gallons per course for the year. That would mean roughly $130,000 in savings based on current prices.

Advanced Sensor’s competitors include the industry giant Toro, of Bloomington, Minn.; and Environmental Sensors, Inc., based in Victoria, British Columbia. Each has introduced wireless systems designed for golf courses within the past four months.

The competition has, predictably, spawned litigation. Advanced Sensor filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Toro in January 2008. The case, which involves the movement of a former Advanced Sensor wireless system designer to Toro, is scheduled for trial July 30 in federal court in Philadelphia, barring a settlement.

“The reality is that that the water situation itself is very significant,” Norley said. “There is usage legislation in a number of states, and when it comes to mandates, the golf world will be the lowest-hanging fruit of all the irrigation applications. If decisions are to be based on who gets water, crops for food or someone’s green, green, green fairways, it’s pretty obvious who will get the water.”

Golf accounts for 0.5 percent of annual water usage in the United States, according to a study released this year by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. Golf courses are all but weaned from municipal fresh-water systems, with 86 percent now using some other source, liked recycled effluent water, surface water or water treated by reverse osmosis. Significantly, 70 percent of superintendents surveyed said they were keeping their turf drier.

But fewer than 100 of the estimated 15,700 golf courses in the United States have sensors installed. The introduction of relatively cheap and highly accurate systems could change that.

For slightly more than $11,000, a golf course could install an UgMo subsurface system that would include 18 wireless sensors, 3 routers and gateways, software and help from an agronomy support staff.

In the Florida Keys, the Card Sound Golf Club installed wireless sensors in April. The club uses recycled water from reverse osmosis to irrigate the grounds. It has a high salt content, meaning that the club superintendent, Sean Anderson, must regularly have his greens flushed with fresh water.

Before the installation, Anderson said, the job required 150,000 gallons, took an hour and had to be done every two weeks.

“We have actually cut in half the amount of water we were using,” he said. “To me, it sort of shows that the sky is the limit with this technology.”

Floridians can always rely on sunshine, but rainfall is highly unpredictable.

This makes water resource management one of Florida's greatest challenges, but also one of its greatest rewards.

In the St. Johns River Water Management District, water conservation is the cornerstone to sustaining the 18-county region's water supply. The district works to promote conservation of water from all sources to achieve the greatest water savings.

Among the district's efforts to expand water conservation is the Florida Water Star new home certification program.

More than 60 homes save water through efficient household fixtures and appliances, landscaping and efficient irrigation.

Conservation is key to extending our water supply. When daylight saving time began on March 8, new restrictions specifying the days of the week for landscape irrigation became effective in the district. Irrigation is limited to two days a week during daylight saving time and to one day a week during Eastern Standard Time.

Protecting our existing water resources is just as important as exploring new alternative water supplies. But groundwater will not be able to meet all future needs within the district, so new water supplies are important.

Much work has been done to identify and evaluate alternative sources of water, such as seawater, brackish groundwater and surface water from rivers and lakes.

Without the support of Florida's residents, water resource protection is little more than a good idea.

Conservation is about small and simple everyday changes that can help protect our water resources when we're experiencing drought, and promoting habits that will save us money year round and help us be better prepared for the next drought occurrence.

You can lower your water bill and protect one of Florida's most cherished natural resources by taking actions as simple as turning off the faucets when brushing your teeth or shaving, running dishwashers and washing machines when you have a full load and turning off the timers on your sprinkler systems.

By practicing simple water-saving behaviors, you can help ensure an adequate and reliable supply of water for future generations.

For more drought information, go to these sites:

- www.dep.state.fl.us/drought/default.htm

- floridaswater.com.

Water conservation tips can be found: www.dep.state.fl.us/drought/tips.htm.