Californians ... Lining-Up For "Recycled Sewer Water"

PLEASANTON -- It's not everyone's idea of great swag, but Tri-Valley homeowners are lining up for a new drought freebie -- recycled sewer water.

District employees came up with the water fill station idea during a brainstorming session on how to help Tri-Valley residents cope with some of the region's most severe water shortages.

Local water suppliers have ordered customers to cut use 25 percent and limit watering lawns to twice a week.

"We haven't been watering our lawn, and it would be nice have it a little green," Gale Van de Roovaart said as she filled her water drums from a station hose on a recent day.

She was planning to make three trips that day to water her grass and her tomato, squash and bean plants in Pleasanton, where the city has steep financial penalties for those failing to cut back.

People can haul away up to 300 gallons per trip for free with no limit on trips.

Those who want bigger loads must register as a commercial water hauler and pay $10 per trip.

California's 1st Recycled Water Station for Homeowners

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OPINION: An Appropriate Follow-Up to:

Californians ... Turning In Their Neighbors !!!
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I think it is pretty crazy that in the middle of a drought, people worry about "green lawns".

That my friends is what is wrong with society.

You shouldn't be able to water your lawn period with treated tap water in a drought, only grey water.

I agree completely, it does show the current psychological state of the world... Reply to: liejunkie01

I wouldn't worry too much about "Recycled Sewer Water" ... Short of the Earth spinning through a molecular cloud, the volume of water on/in the planet hasn't changed in four-and-a-half billion years.

As for the recycled sewer water to water plants and the lawn.. *shrugs* I have no issue with it, think its probably a good outside the box thought for a drought stricken area.

as a guy that grew up in Florida during the decade long drought.. nothing pisses me off more than seeing neighbors watering their lawn at 4-5 pm on a 100+degree day... I never water my lawn and its greener and fuller than my neighbors that pay people to come out and spray that fertilizer on it a couple times a year.

Course I also don't dump a couple dozen lbs of chemicals on it either... a few weeds don't scare me.

a reply to: FarleyWayne

We live out in the desert, my dad has a 400 gallon grey water system that recycles used water from the house to water all or out trees and plants out here. We have an extra long hose to reach all over, so far the system works pretty well so at least we do not have to use fresh water as much.

I think every house should have one of these systems, that could be hooked into lawn sprinklers and hoses it would save tons of water.

I think it's a great idea. People are going to water their lawns, drought or not. At least this way there are some people who aren't wasting regular water.

I live in SoCal, and I haven't seen much water reduction usage. Every weekend I see people watering and washing cars, and the sprinklers come on twice a day.

I turned off my sprinklers. My kid wanted to use her kiddie pool last weekend. I hadn't set it up because of the drought, but I decided to do it last weekend. Then after she finished swimming we grabbed buckets and used the water to wash both cars, water the plants, clean the front and back patio. Then I had set it up in such a way that once I dumped what was left it would go across the lawn (its kind of a hill so I put it at the top so it would flow down).

I think that if people are more conscientious about the how and when we use the water, it would be much better in the long run.

originally posted by: Snarl
I wouldn't worry too much about "Recycled Sewer Water" ... Short of the Earth spinning through a molecular cloud, the volume of water on/in the planet hasn't changed in four-and-a-half billion years.

Agreed.
Also every bit of it is recycled too!

originally posted by: liejunkie01
I think it is pretty crazy that in the middle of a drought, people worry about "green lawns".

That my friends is what is wrong with society.

You shouldn't be able to water your lawn period with treated tap water in a drought, only grey water.

That's how people are, if you told people that if they would stop eating crabs for one year that there would be enough crabs to last forever but if they didn't this would be the last year for them, you can bet that there would be no more crabs. Same goes for the water and pretty much anything that people get their hands on.

And cities shouldn't be selling millions of gallons of water to drilling companies for fracking during droughts, but they continue to do it.

originally posted by: liejunkie01
I think it is pretty crazy that in the middle of a drought, people worry about "green lawns".

That my friends is what is wrong with society.

You shouldn't be able to water your lawn period with treated tap water in a drought, only grey water.

It's not so much the green lawns they worry about as much as getting Valley Fever which forms during extreme dry periods:

en.wikipedia.org...

Seems they would really need to looking at some way of putting gel such as gelatin into the soil so the water doesn't eveporate.

The green lawns are essential for families with asthma, and during a very big bush fire that took homes near here, there was a watering ban. Had to sneak out anyway, because I suddenly developed life threatening asthma and nearly died.

originally posted by: liejunkie01
I think it is pretty crazy that in the middle of a drought, people worry about "green lawns".

That my friends is what is wrong with society.

You shouldn't be able to water your lawn period with treated tap water in a drought, only grey water.

When it's 108 degrees and our lawns are all dried up it's a fire hazard..... THAT is why we like to keep them green. Plus they look nice....

what gets me is all the people in drought regions putting up big in ground pools.

They're in a drought and can water their lawns twice a week?!?! The word drought must mean something different here.