4 ms·

In Irvine, California, homes are plumbed with two water lines: potable, and greywater. So even in the middle of a drought, everything is green.

coliveira 4y ago
More waste: now there is an extra water system to maintain and repair.
- RC_ITR 4y ago
  Define “extra” Do you consider hot/cold plumbing to be two systems?
  - tentacleuno 4y ago
    Yes, I do. One is connected to the mains water, while the other goes through a series of pipes to the boiler.
hosh 4y ago
Yup, that’s a great start. There’s a lot more that can be done. For example, there are better ways to treat blackwater than dumping it into a septic tank and a leach field. Incorporating and cycling blackwater through plants that evolved to drink and process blackwater can help clean it faster. I would not want to cycle it immediately back to onsite drinking water, but in a situation like Jackson, MS, I know I am not contributing sewage to my neighbor’s bathwater. This video goes through the design principles for onsite greywater and blackwater harvesting: https://youtu.be/f-sRcVkZ9yg https://youtu.be/f-sRcVkZ9yg
bsder 4y ago
For those unfamilar with the California scene: there is an agricultural water shortage, not a residential one. You could reduce residential usage of water in California to zero and it would barely make a dent in the water shortage. California can relatively easily desalinate its way out of residential water shortage. On the other hand, shutting down the agribusinesses in the Central Valley completely fixes California's water shortage for everybody.
- bradgessler 4y ago
  It sounds easy to say “shut down agribusiness,” but then you have a food problem. I don’t know to what extent, but I can’t take “cut off ag” solutions seriously unless they can articulate the impact of the cut-off on food supplies and present alternatives for more efficient crops.
  - bsder 4y ago
    Cutting off alfalfa being exported won't hurt "food supplies" in the US one bit. Almonds, similarly, are hardly necessary for maintaining our "food supply". There are other, more staple, crops that use a lot less water but the agribusinesses choose not to grow them because they don't make as much profit. One of the perennial problems in California is that the agribusinesses don't pay anywhere close to what they should for water. This creates gigantic misincentives to suck up the water and leave somebody else holding the bag. If the water rates were higher, the agribusinesses would grow a very different mix of crops. Of course, since the agribusinesses also throw around lots of money, politicians won't touch the issue. The coastal cities finally decided that they need to build enough desalinization plants to cover their needs so they can simply ignore the ongoing Central Valley fiasco.
granshaw 4y ago
You can get that in some places in North Carolina too, but it costs thousands to get the non sewered line installed, so most homeowners don’t do it

coliveira 4y ago

More waste: now there is an extra water system to maintain and repair.

RC_ITR 4y ago
Define “extra” Do you consider hot/cold plumbing to be two systems?
- tentacleuno 4y ago
  Yes, I do. One is connected to the mains water, while the other goes through a series of pipes to the boiler.

hosh 4y ago

Yup, that’s a great start. There’s a lot more that can be done. For example, there are better ways to treat blackwater than dumping it into a septic tank and a leach field. Incorporating and cycling blackwater through plants that evolved to drink and process blackwater can help clean it faster. I would not want to cycle it immediately back to onsite drinking water, but in a situation like Jackson, MS, I know I am not contributing sewage to my neighbor’s bathwater. This video goes through the design principles for onsite greywater and blackwater harvesting: https://youtu.be/f-sRcVkZ9yg https://youtu.be/f-sRcVkZ9yg

bsder 4y ago

For those unfamilar with the California scene: there is an agricultural water shortage, not a residential one. You could reduce residential usage of water in California to zero and it would barely make a dent in the water shortage. California can relatively easily desalinate its way out of residential water shortage. On the other hand, shutting down the agribusinesses in the Central Valley completely fixes California's water shortage for everybody.

bradgessler 4y ago
It sounds easy to say “shut down agribusiness,” but then you have a food problem. I don’t know to what extent, but I can’t take “cut off ag” solutions seriously unless they can articulate the impact of the cut-off on food supplies and present alternatives for more efficient crops.
- bsder 4y ago
  Cutting off alfalfa being exported won't hurt "food supplies" in the US one bit. Almonds, similarly, are hardly necessary for maintaining our "food supply". There are other, more staple, crops that use a lot less water but the agribusinesses choose not to grow them because they don't make as much profit. One of the perennial problems in California is that the agribusinesses don't pay anywhere close to what they should for water. This creates gigantic misincentives to suck up the water and leave somebody else holding the bag. If the water rates were higher, the agribusinesses would grow a very different mix of crops. Of course, since the agribusinesses also throw around lots of money, politicians won't touch the issue. The coastal cities finally decided that they need to build enough desalinization plants to cover their needs so they can simply ignore the ongoing Central Valley fiasco.

granshaw 4y ago

You can get that in some places in North Carolina too, but it costs thousands to get the non sewered line installed, so most homeowners don’t do it