[ExI] Perihelion day

[spike]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of BillK
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 9:55 AM
To: ExI chat list
Subject: Re: [ExI] Perihelion day

On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 11:07 PM, spike wrote:
>>... I will do the giving of thanks.  On the US west coast it is a gorgeous

> day, approximately room temperature, sunny skies...Life is good!
>


>...Just saw this article confirming the nice warm weather in California.

>...And guess what - it is very bad news for California!

>...<http://www.sacbee.com/2014/01/03/6044593/sierra-snow-survey-points-to-d
ry.html>

Quote:
>...The state is experiencing one of the driest starts to winter ever
recorded, proved by the clear blue skies and record-warm temperatures that
have persisted over the past few weeks.

>..."The water situation is bad. We're kind of in unprecedented conditions,"
said John Woodling, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Water
Authority...

>..."The state's agricultural areas will see major impacts as the lack of
water will result in the need to fallow important farmland...
-----------

>...Looks like Californians will be sharing baths this year!  ;)  BillK

_______________________________________________

Hmmmm, OK.  {8-]  My bride might not think much of the idea however.  She is
that way.  Possessive.  Insists I keep my eyeballs in my head.  Territorial
females, oy, no fun for the husband at all.  {8^D

But to the contrary in any case.  In the farming biz, it is often perfectly
logical and a good business decision to fallow some of your fields in some
years.  A severe drought drives up some crop prices.  A good farmer can
arrange to profit either way, regardless of what the weather does.  Keep in
mind there is an opposite point of view from the perspective of a food
producer as opposed to the rest of us, food consumers.  When you get around
a group of farmers, you will always here prices are just terrible in such a
such.  What they mean by terrible is low.  A drought can be used to sell
certain thirsty crops at high profits.

Regarding sharing baths, in California we have a functional reservoir: we
can cut water use on short notice by stopping or cutting back on lawn
irrigation.  When I built the irrigation system for my trees and lawn, I
rigged a special valve that allows me to tap in with a water source other
than that supplied at drinking water standards.  Then I noted when the house
was being built the location of the upstairs shower and bath drains.  I know
how to get to those from the garage and how to tap into them without much
expense.  The irrigation for the trees and flowers was designed to operate
on very low pressure (the 4 PSI or so which can be supplied by the 9 ft of
head from the upstairs shower and bath drains to the tree roots.)  Then if
it really became financially compelling, I could let my lawn perish,
replacing it with volcanic gravel (it uses the most water and needs pressure
to operate the sprinklers) and irrigate my trees and flowers (which attract
bees and other fun stuff) using waste water from the bath and shower.  

I did the BOTECs a long time ago and only planted enough trees and shrubs so
that they could survive on waste bathwater alone.  Since then a third member
joined the family, so I have plenty of margin on those calcs, plenty.  

That modification alone would cut my water use to less than half, with an
investment of perhaps a 100 bucks for a compressible sleeve and about 80 ft
of plastic pipe, plus about 15 to 20 hours of my time to install it.  I
anticipated the need in 1996, so I installed a pipe underneath the concrete
when I was building the landscaping.  This way, the pipes would not even be
visible outside my house.  The only real change then would be we would need
to use biodegradable soap in the shower, something that wouldn't hurt trees
if it accumulated.

All that being said, California isn't really going to run seriously short of
water, so long as we are throwing fresh water into the sea at the mouth of
the Sacramento River.

Shows to go ya: in the resource game, the low hanging fruit is in using less
and using smarter, rather than in producing more and wasting more.  This is
likely to be this way for most of the natural lifetimes of nearly everyone
reading this post.  This works for not only food and water but for energy as
well.  We are a smart species, we can do better.  Waaay better.

spike