Sierra Snowpack 2015

"The text posted didn't make sense as written."

Right. I just wanted to flag this so that Diane could clarify her own text and not depend on somebody else to misinterpret the meaning.

–B.G.–

Edit: Let me check with the city,

I think she means 27 gallons per day, per adult, correct? Still seems like a lot of water, but if you are watering fruit trees, that may make sense.

> The text posted didn't make sense as written.
May have been worded less than perfectly (maybe), but it made perfect sense to me.

Cheers

Roger, are you condensing again?

–B.G.–

I got to believe some of you guys are leaving a zero off the end of your numbers.
Sometimes those bills are in thousands or hundreds of gallons… in other words, sometimes you have to add some zeros to the end of the number on the bill.
The typical person was using about 3,000 gallons a month before the droughts and conservation… that's about 100 gallons a day. Most people struggle to cut that in half… down to 50 gallons day. And it takes very short showers, only doing full loads of laundry, and very frugal when doing dishes and zero outdoor watering.

Billy

Billy. It helps being at work 8 hours a day and sleeping 8 hour a day. Our bill is easy to read. High efficiency washer and low water usage toilet. No long showers. It's not hard.

Family of 4 here, 6000 square foot landscaped property (house is only 800) with small vegetable gardens, chickens, 2 cats, and a dog and we come in at a little less than 50 gallons/person per day. I'd like to get it down to 30.

Putting the numbers to it makes it sound so nuts, especially in backpacking terms, when I'm living on ~gallon a day!

Many, if not most, water agencies bill in units of 100 cubic feet of water.

So if your bill is 10 units, you used 1,000 cubic feet of water.

One cubic foot of water = 7.48 gallons.

1,000 cubic feet of water = 7,480 gallons or 249.33 gallons per day in a 30 day billing cycle.

I read awhile back that the average family of 4 uses 300 gallons per day and 70% of that is for indoor use. The biggest consumer is a toilet.

That would put us in the neighborhood of 90 gallons a day. I'll have to check the meter. Anywho we are on the low end of the usage spectrum. We share the flush for no.1 as we seem to need to go about the same time. 1.6 gal flush. Shower every other day.

My water bill is in thousands of gallons. So a bill might read: 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 for a month. So if I used 1,499 gallons the bill would read: "1". If I used 1,501 gallons the bill would read: "2". If I used 2,499 gallons the bill would read: "2".

How do they expect us to get accurate feedback on how well we're doing with out savings with a bill like that? Yes, I know I can go out to the street and lift the concrete lid on the meter box, but how many of the 38 million Californians will do that?

Worse, many communities in California don't even have water meters at all…!!!!!!!

Billy

I'll pull that cover and see if the meter says gallons or feet tomorrow while it's light out.

Most meters in the US read cubic feet. However, most agencies bill at the 100 cubic feet rate. On the right hand side of the meter the "ones" and probably the "tens" digits are black. The other digits are white. The water agency will only record the white numbers, which is how many units of 100 cubic feet were consumed. So there is a built-in rounding each month.

It is pretty easy to figure out IF you know how your water company bills. If it isn't clear get you last two water bills and then look at the meter.

We will probably solve Billy's lost zeros with this exercise.

BTW, be careful if you go probing around underground meters, it is a favorite living place for black widow and recluse spiders. Of course where I live we are more concerned about rattle snakes.

Humboldt on so many levels is unlike anywhere else I've lived. More rain for the next few days. Radar looks promising.

Edit: Crap, the meter is cubic feet. I still sleep nights.

"The text posted didn't make sense as written."

It made sense, but there was just an obvious miscalculation.

"It is pretty easy to figure out IF you know how your water company bills. If it isn't clear get you last two water bills and then look at the meter. "

My water co. bills per CCF. TIL 1CCF = 1 centum (like Roman num. 'C') cubic foot = 100 cubic feet = 748 gallons.

According to my bill Feb. my wife and I (and two dogs) used 9 CCF or about 224 gallons a day, which seems surprisingly high. I watered my lawn once a week during this billing period and washed my car at home once. We have a pool so there is going to be some water usage attributed to that, but it makes me wonder whether I have a leak somewhere or we just really used that much.

I'm charged for a minimum amount whether I use that much or not, it can go up if I use over that. I estimate my daily use at about 15-18 gallons; live alone, short showers nearly daily, rarely use dishwasher, full loads only in clothes washing, have rain barrels, utilize gray water.

Occasional car washing can bump it up. When I do wash the car, I park it in the grass so the water goes into the soil rather than draining into the storm sewers. In the summer sometimes I need to water the garden and berry bushes, so the bill can go up, but in thousand gallon increments. If I really watch the meter, I can keep those increases down to about $10.

If they really want to save water they should have a water meter 'receiver' in every kitchen. The receiver would display gallon readings transmitted from the meter. You would be able to see today's gallons used, month to date, dollar cost today and dollar cost month to date.

The average homeowner is not going to be aware of how much they are using otherwise… until the end of the month when they get their bill. Your average homeowner is not going to be as aware as the people posting here… And maybe not even then… maybe not until they get a fine several weeks or a month after that.

Of course, none of this does anything for the millions who have no meter at all !!!

Billy

Drew, you can check to see if you have a leak by taking a look at your meter with all water off in the home.

Once you are certain that everything is off (ice maker isn't currently on, no irrigation timers are activated, no toilets are being flushed, etc.,) go out to the meter. You should have either a triangle indicator, or if it's a digital meter, the screen may need to be activated with a flashlight or a magnet and you'll see an icon, sometimes a little water spigot, which indicates water flow. If there is any indication of water going through the meter, you may have a leak. If the indicator is moving very slowly, it can be a running toilet, or something like that. If it's really spinning, that can indicate a large leak.

The meter should be completely still if you have all known sources of water off. Even if the indicator jumps every few seconds, that can mean a hose bib or other fitting is weeping water. If you can tell how much water is being used, in say a ten minute period, you can calculate the number of gallons wasted per hour and figure out how much that would be per month.

Also, be sure to take the time, at least every few months, to observe the sprinklers while timers are on. If one of the sprinkler standpipes is cracked at the base, the water can just bubble up and run out. This can cause the good sprinkles to not cover as much as they should, as well as cause an obvious amount of water to be wasted. It would be almost the equivalent of a hose spigot left wide open while those timers are running. So if they run for say eight minutes, depending on your pressure, that can easily be 250 gallons of water just running into the drain or down the gutter every time the sprinklers are on. It's a simple fix, and this alone can save hundreds of gallons of water every month if addressed quickly.

Agriculture accounts for a majority of the water used in CA. As surface water becomes increasingly scarce, unregulated agricultural drilling for water is increasing rapidly, with potentially disastrous long term results. Here is an interesting read on the subject:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/science/beneath-california-crops-groundwater-crisis-grows.html?emc=edit_th_20150406&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=59760233&_r=0

One thing that doesn't get mentioned much here is the water consumption required by fracking in CA.

MILLIONS of gallons to frack the average well…

It's my understanding that the majority of fracking in CA is in Kern County, which is also where much of the drilling for agricultural water Tom mentions above is happening.

Don't worry…the water's fine. As long as you don't hold a match to it :)

"One thing that doesn't get mentioned much here is the water consumption required by fracking in CA."

The Monterey Shale formation? WOW! I knew they were intending to do it, but have they actually started? The US Energy Information Administration just downgraded the original estimate of 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil by 96%. Let us hope that puts a crimp in the plans to frack there. If not, CA could be in even deeper doo doo, even faster than they will be if they don't get Big Ag under control.

Part of the reason we're in so much trouble is the fact that we can't even have an honest conversation. I've been hearing quite a bit lately in the news about the extravagant water usage required to grow almonds in California. Which is true.

…Yet complete silence when it comes to animal related agriculture. Meat (primarily beef) and dairy water usage in this state is astronomical. We put out PSAs guilting the average Joe about taking long showers yet fail to educate that it takes a month of showers to produce your 99 cent cheeseburger or keep your refrigerator stocked with milk. And in the midst of harassing small-time water users, big California Ag grows alfalfa to export to feed a growing Chinese beef and dairy industry…

Hmmm….could this mess of deceit have something to do with lobbying?

The whole thing stinks. If we can't be honest, we're screwed.

________

Every estimate I've read puts beef as the chart-topper at roughly 100 gallons of water per ounce.
1,600 gallons/pound!

Apparently we've also got a sacred cow….only we eat ours.

A good read is Cadillac Desert, by Marc Reisner. Amazon has it in print and Kindle.

Bottom line: the southwest and California cannot support the booming populations and agriculture industries. Another reason for real immigration reform. We cannot support the influx of people and we cannot support the population re-locating to the arid states.

"The whole thing stinks. If we can't be honest, we're screwed."

CA is on a collision course with reality, Craig. These guys aren't going to wake up until they've sucked every aquifer dry, used up what precious little surface water is likely to be available in coming years if the climatologists are correct, and done their level best to tap into the Columbia, which ain't gonna happen. But like all good carpet baggers they will simply move on and leave the masses holding the bag.

And the pols still blather on about growth…..

The local city council where I used to live in CA was debating water saving measures last night.The idea of a building moratorium was brought up. The council decided they wanted to save water other ways… Like forcing current residents to conserve… so we can build more and bring more people in to use more water.

Of course, most of the council members have close ties (and funding) with the building and real-estate industry.

so it goes…

Billy