Americans to Drink More Treated Sewage

Originally posted by tom goose
A crisis that some say is looming within a decade or less.

I can agree. Ever see "Ice Pirates"?

That's why I wonder why we aren't trying to go out and study Saturn's moon Enceladus. There's plenty of water out there if we need it. Just have to get to it and bring it back.

"Saturn Moon Has Water Geysers and, Just Maybe, Life"

news.nationalgeographic.com...

I often wonder about the idea of off planet minning and even access to water. Has there ever been any study that focused on the possible effect that bringing extra mass onto the earths surface would cause? Do we spin at the speed we do because of how much we weigh, and if we add more weight to the planet, will that effect our orbit around the sun? Totally off topic, but when you mentioned water on Saturn, it rang a bell to something that has bugged me for a long time.

reply to post by tom goose



Interesting. I would think on a large scale that yes it just might effect us. Nice thoughts. I hadn't thought of that.

About once a year I get a flyer stuck in my door from the water department informing me about lead in the water and illustrating how to boil water and how to let it run for a minute before drinking.

The expected date on the flyer for them to have it taken care of is always extended and the rest of the information is the same.

Dear Government
Please take some of the money I pay in taxes and put it towards the clean water fund. Me and my family would sure appreciate it if we could have nice clean crisp drinking water from the tap this year. The park in the middle of town sure is awesome but clean drinking water for the community would be better.

Originally posted by Griff
If you people want to drink those bacteria, be my guest. Me, I'll stick with a little chlorine

You are crazy if you believe chlorine is safer than bacteria in water.

reply to post by kattraxx


We could be using that waste water for the golf courses and clean water for our drinking.

Or even better yet, use rainwater for drinking.


Greywater Harvesting could water the lawn

This is quoted from Brad Lancaster's website above:

The Eight Principles of Successful Water Harvesting

1. Begin with long and thoughtful observation.
Use all your senses to see where the water flows and how. What is working, what is not? Build on what works.

2. Start at the top (highpoint) of your watershed and work your way down.
Water travels downhill, so collect water at your high points for more immediate infiltration and easy gravity-fed distribution. Start at the top where there is less volume and velocity of water.

3. Start small and simple.
Work at the human scale so you can build and repair everything. Many small strategies are far more effective than one big one when you are trying to infiltrate water into the soil.

4. Slow, spread, and infiltrate the flow of water.
Rather than having water erosively runoff the land’s surface, encourage it to stick around, “walk” around, and infiltrate into the soil. Slow it, spread it, sink it.

5. Always plan an overflow route, and manage that overflow as a resource.
Always have an overflow route for the water in times of extra heavy rains, and where possible, use the overflow as a resource.

6. Maximize living and organic groundcover.
Create a living sponge so the harvested water is used to create more resources, while the soil’s ability to infiltrate and hold water steadily improves.

7. Maximize beneficial relationships and efficiency by “stacking functions.”
Get your water harvesting strategies to do more than hold water. Berms can double as high and dry raised paths. Plantings can be placed to cool buildings in summer. Vegetation can be selected to provide food.

8. Continually reassess your system: the “feedback loop.”
Observe how your work affects the site—beginning again with the first principle. Make any needed changes, using the principles to guide you.

Here's his footnote on the above 8 steps:

Principles 2, 4, 5, and 6 are based on those developed and promoted by PELUM—the Participatory Ecological Land-Use Management association of east and southern Africa. Principles 1, 3, 7, and 8 are based on my own experiences and the insights gained from other water harvesters.

So how much water can you catch at home?

Depends on your roof size .

The water tanks can be built above ground and below ground.

Bushman raincatch systems are from Australia and work really well for residential applications.

For commercial applications and golf course broadscale operations, try a cistern or a newly invented underground system consisting of a plastic pond liner, a plastic cage holding the water, a cloth filter to keep the water in, and a sand layer to purify and filter the water.

I can't find the information on the underground catchment systems right now, I'll add it later tonight.

Here another's rain catchment site.

Originally posted by SteveR

Originally posted by Griff
If you people want to drink those bacteria, be my guest. Me, I'll stick with a little chlorine

You are crazy if you believe chlorine is safer than bacteria in water.

I like how you cut the rest of my quote out.

Let me finish it for you.

"that gets filtered out".

Bacteria doesn't. Go ahead and drink dirty water. Be my guest. But, when your guts are being expelled by your body from e. coli, don't come running to me for help.