3 ms·

For years, off and on, I've seen scare stories about running out of water. Broadly, the situation is really simple: In some parts of the world, water suitable

by graycat 12y ago

For years, off and on, I've seen scare stories about running out of water. Broadly, the situation is really simple: In some parts of the world, water suitable for humans and/or agriculture is scarce, but in other parts of the world such water is plentiful. In simplest terms, if are concerned about water, then don't live in a desert. For me, no worries, mate: I live in the US 70 miles north of Wall Street, and my water comes from a well in my front yard. There's an electric pump at the bottom of the well, and everything's fine. I have no swimming pool, but my neighbors on both sides do, and they have similar wells. We have no water shortage at all. Indeed, each spring there's enough melted snow and rain to totally soak the ground with the excess water running off into, no doubt, the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean. Is it good water? It seems fine. I have a filter in the line; the filter is some tube about a foot long and 2 inches in diameter, sometimes of some foam and other times a bunch of thread wrapped tightly. The water flows through the tube, and any little pits of dirt, gravel, etc. get filtered out. I have a supply of about a half-dozen new filters, and I replace a filter about once each two years whether needed or not. Yes, the water is totally saturated with CaCO3, that is, calcium carbonate. No worries, mate. Everything in my kitchen is nice and clean with no sign of CaCO3 deposits. Hot water coils? Yup, since hot water dissolves CaCO3 less well than cold water, I get CaCO3 deposits in the hot water coils. So, maybe twice a year I use some HCl, a drill pump, and two garden hoses to clean out the CaCO3 from the hot water coils. Of course the reaction generates CaCL2 and CO2. No biggie. For the water I use, it's not really lost but goes to my septic tank. Right, no sewer and just a backyard septic tank instead. What comes out of the septic tank goes into a drain field in my backyard and, then, no doubt helps keep the backyard moist. Some of that water likely leaks into a stream that runs past the back of the property, and the stream no doubt soon ends up in the Hudson River. No worries, mate. So, I pay nothing for the drinking water and nothing for sewer. Trash? Paper and plastic I burn in the fireplace. Bottles and cans I accumulate and occasionally, once each few years, make a midnight deposit in a dumpster someplace. Those bottles and cans causing a gigantic pile up of trash that is covering the globe, as has been claimed by other alarmists? Nope: Instead what I dump is a very high grade aluminum mine. The article is more from the Alarmist Industry. The theme is: Humans are evil. They are all sinners. They are greedy, filthy, and wasteful. They are committing sinful, destructive, dangerous, short-sighted transgressions against the 100% pure, pristine, precious, delicate, sensitive, beautiful natural environment of Mother Nature. This transgression will led to just horrible retribution as just payback from injured, angry Mother Nature. The only course is redemption via sacrifice, discipline, denial, conservation, and more in costs, taxes, regulations, etc. Uh, where have we heard this trilogy, this line, before? How about 1000 years ago in the English morality plays? It's called a guilt trip, exploiting the vulnerability of people to become afraid of dangers from the unknown. Laying on such a guilt trip has been a favorite scam of charlatans for at least 1000 years. No doubt one of the reasons for The Age of Reason was to have means to separate truth from superstitions and fears based on ignorance. Yes, Virginia, there really are some dangers. And we need to understand such dangers and do something effective about them. Dangers? Ebola, if we are not careful. Polio unless we take vaccines seriously or just eliminate the virus from the environment. Similarly for several other diseases for which we have good vaccines. In some locations, earthquakes. In some locations, hurricanes. In some locations, blizzards. In some locations, water shortages. And, now, with the media, in all locations, alarmist charlatans using misleading nonsense to try to grab us by the gut, make us afraid, create a flim-flam, fraud scam, and get on our backs and into our pockets, all as their career. Apparently there is a big industry for such. And, of course, the media like such stories -- screaming "danger!" -- to get eyeballs for ad revenue. Virginia, it's a scam, exploiting ignorance. Broadly the solution is knowledge, education, and rationality. Here, let's call a scam what it is and try to push back against such destructive nonsense. So, this article is from the NYT. Okay, for years I've concluded that the NYT can't pass up an opportunity to try to get their (sucker!) readers up on their hind legs by running scare stories about the sky is falling. So, I long ago gave up on the NYT being rational or responsible. Emotional? Yes. Even paranoid? Yes. Rational? No. If they were rational and responsible, then many of their stories with a lot of eyeballs would go away. But, also, due to their nonsense, I went away. So, back in the days of paper, I refused to have their trash in the house, even for free. Now the NYT is running stories of wide variety, and maybe some of the stories have some okay, rational, informational content. Maybe. But the NYT, from their long standard goal of grabbing people by the heart, the gut, and below the belt, always below the shoulders, rarely between the ears, has left me so pissed off I just can't take them seriously. Clearly the NYT understands formula fiction, that is, sympathetic White Hat protagonists facing danger, dangerous Black Hats threatening the White Hats, with strong issues of morality, etc. So, the NYT takes whatever they can find and presents it using the techniques of formula fiction. Long ago, my brother had an English prof who just asserted that the news is mostly from just the techniques of formula fiction. Informing the readers is not the goal. Instead the goal is ad revenue from eyeballs from grabbing people emotionally by the heart, gut, and below the belt. Long ago one of the news anchors on one of the three major TV networks explained that the evening news was not healthy for viewers because it got the viewers highly concerned about things they could do nothing about. Not a full description of what is wrong with the media but a description of part of it. We gotta push back against this nonsense. NYT, here's some feedback for you: Your content is alarmist, wildly overly emotional, irrational, irresponsible, and frustrating; you just piss me off; and mostly I just will refuse to pay attention to your stuff. You can keep writing that nonsense, but I will rarely read it. And, as a matter of principle, I will just never pay for that nonsense. And, as here, in public I will push back against your nonsense. Did I mention your nonsense? I don't want to leave out that I regard nearly everything you write as nonsense or worse. You are getting this?

cpwright 12y ago
You might say that the septic is free, but in practice the installation is fairly costly, and it does need maintenance. It also requires less dense housing, so there is an implied cost there (i.e. you need probably 1/2 an acre of land). After the initial cost, it is still probably cheaper than a sewer; but excavating the field will run thousands of dollars. I have septic and am perfectly fine with it, total cost has probably been about $1800 over 8 years (4 x $300 pumpings + 1 x $600 jetting to clear out roots that grew into a line). The well also requires maintenance, an initial setup, and probably doesn't have as much capacity as a municipal water supply. I'm happier having town water, which requires no electricity or maintenance (on my part).
- graycat 12y ago
  Yes, the septic tank is not entirely free, but I was trying to keep the explanation simple. But, I pay no monthly sewer fee to the town, city, or whatever. For the original cost of installing a septic system, sure, that's not free, but neither is running a town-approved sewer line out to the street. And town taxes or fees, I'd have to pay for, will have to maintain that sewer line. Heck, a town sewer line has to carry my waste for miles, but my drain field only runs for, maybe, 40 feet. My guess is, net, in both capex an opex, my septic system is cheaper than a town sewer system. Besides, with a town system, there is a central collection and processing plant, and occasionally it has to get rid of the final, insoluble waste. So, it might haul out that waste. Then, right, presto, bingo, the professional alarmists, as in the OP, are out screaming about the environment, even if the town hauls the waste 100 miles into the Atlantic Ocean before dumping it. Screaming professional alarmists. With my septic system, there's no screaming. Good. But, for the opex, I've been in the house for 23 years and so far have done only one thing to the septic system: From some skin irritation from using a weed whacker, I used some Wal-Mart triple anti-biotic cream on my legs; the cream got on my socks; when I washed the socks the cream got into the septic system. Then some sewage bubbled up from a spot far into the back yard. So, the Wal-Mart cream was powerful stuff -- steralized my septic system! Solution: There is a box of dry beads can buy at the grocery store. Just flush the stuff, and the septic system is working again. Worked fine, right away. The spot in the backyard? I did nothing about it, and soon it dried out and is invisible now. No worries, mate! The lot? Yes, it's nice in some ways, and so is the neighborhood. There are deer in the backyard; sometimes I see them, and when I mow the grass I can see where they have matted down the grass from sleeping. There's a lot of wildlife, mice (they tend to avoid the house; I have two kitty cats; mice aren't totally stupid, you know!), rabbits, possums, skunks, raccoons, ground hogs, geese, wild turkeys, hawks, crows, lots of other birds, and sometimes foxes. My kitty cats go out and are fine. My older kitty cat has been going out in this neighborhood for 10 years now with no big problems. Secret: Have a neutered male; else the little guy will go for miles each day, looking for females, marking territory, getting into fights, maybe getting into trouble with traffic, anti-freeze, etc. I omitted what I do with fruits and vegetables that are too old: Sure, I dump them on a pile in the bushes. It's a compost pile. I also dump shrubbery clippings on that pile. The pile shrinks down to next to nothing very quickly. After 23 years of such dumping, I still have to look carefully in the bushes even to find the pile. I don't want town water, sewer, etc., heavily because I just don't want bureaucratic mud wrestling with people who could issue edicts I'd have to obey, no matter what the heck the cost, justification, etc. There is no end of people who want to find excuses to have power over others, e.g., the people in the article screaming for more in fees, taxes, regulations, etc. Getting taxes from me and slapping regulations on me is all they have to do; that's their job; maybe they believe that they are doing good; but I am happy just avoiding them. Let them stay in CA! That's CA where they also want to put regulations on, gads, lawn mowers. Generally NY where I am also has a lot of regulations and taxes, but so far where I am I manage to avoid most of that nonsense. If my start-up works and I move to a nicer house, then I'll make sure I have well water, a septic tank, room for a compost pile, lots of trees and bushes, good room for kitty cats, lots of wild life, a nice emergency electric power generator, and nearly no bureaucrats! Maybe for the well water I'll get a reverse osmosis system -- that could be a little better!

by graycat 12y ago

cpwright 12y ago

You might say that the septic is free, but in practice the installation is fairly costly, and it does need maintenance. It also requires less dense housing, so there is an implied cost there (i.e. you need probably 1/2 an acre of land). After the initial cost, it is still probably cheaper than a sewer; but excavating the field will run thousands of dollars. I have septic and am perfectly fine with it, total cost has probably been about $1800 over 8 years (4 x $300 pumpings + 1 x $600 jetting to clear out roots that grew into a line). The well also requires maintenance, an initial setup, and probably doesn't have as much capacity as a municipal water supply. I'm happier having town water, which requires no electricity or maintenance (on my part).

graycat 12y ago
Yes, the septic tank is not entirely free, but I was trying to keep the explanation simple. But, I pay no monthly sewer fee to the town, city, or whatever. For the original cost of installing a septic system, sure, that's not free, but neither is running a town-approved sewer line out to the street. And town taxes or fees, I'd have to pay for, will have to maintain that sewer line. Heck, a town sewer line has to carry my waste for miles, but my drain field only runs for, maybe, 40 feet. My guess is, net, in both capex an opex, my septic system is cheaper than a town sewer system. Besides, with a town system, there is a central collection and processing plant, and occasionally it has to get rid of the final, insoluble waste. So, it might haul out that waste. Then, right, presto, bingo, the professional alarmists, as in the OP, are out screaming about the environment, even if the town hauls the waste 100 miles into the Atlantic Ocean before dumping it. Screaming professional alarmists. With my septic system, there's no screaming. Good. But, for the opex, I've been in the house for 23 years and so far have done only one thing to the septic system: From some skin irritation from using a weed whacker, I used some Wal-Mart triple anti-biotic cream on my legs; the cream got on my socks; when I washed the socks the cream got into the septic system. Then some sewage bubbled up from a spot far into the back yard. So, the Wal-Mart cream was powerful stuff -- steralized my septic system! Solution: There is a box of dry beads can buy at the grocery store. Just flush the stuff, and the septic system is working again. Worked fine, right away. The spot in the backyard? I did nothing about it, and soon it dried out and is invisible now. No worries, mate! The lot? Yes, it's nice in some ways, and so is the neighborhood. There are deer in the backyard; sometimes I see them, and when I mow the grass I can see where they have matted down the grass from sleeping. There's a lot of wildlife, mice (they tend to avoid the house; I have two kitty cats; mice aren't totally stupid, you know!), rabbits, possums, skunks, raccoons, ground hogs, geese, wild turkeys, hawks, crows, lots of other birds, and sometimes foxes. My kitty cats go out and are fine. My older kitty cat has been going out in this neighborhood for 10 years now with no big problems. Secret: Have a neutered male; else the little guy will go for miles each day, looking for females, marking territory, getting into fights, maybe getting into trouble with traffic, anti-freeze, etc. I omitted what I do with fruits and vegetables that are too old: Sure, I dump them on a pile in the bushes. It's a compost pile. I also dump shrubbery clippings on that pile. The pile shrinks down to next to nothing very quickly. After 23 years of such dumping, I still have to look carefully in the bushes even to find the pile. I don't want town water, sewer, etc., heavily because I just don't want bureaucratic mud wrestling with people who could issue edicts I'd have to obey, no matter what the heck the cost, justification, etc. There is no end of people who want to find excuses to have power over others, e.g., the people in the article screaming for more in fees, taxes, regulations, etc. Getting taxes from me and slapping regulations on me is all they have to do; that's their job; maybe they believe that they are doing good; but I am happy just avoiding them. Let them stay in CA! That's CA where they also want to put regulations on, gads, lawn mowers. Generally NY where I am also has a lot of regulations and taxes, but so far where I am I manage to avoid most of that nonsense. If my start-up works and I move to a nicer house, then I'll make sure I have well water, a septic tank, room for a compost pile, lots of trees and bushes, good room for kitty cats, lots of wild life, a nice emergency electric power generator, and nearly no bureaucrats! Maybe for the well water I'll get a reverse osmosis system -- that could be a little better!