It's A Freaking Desert

[GAD]

I had 2 houses with wells. The water was never free. lol. Because of things like pumps and pipes breaking I figured out having well water cost about the same as being hooked up to a municipal supply.

Not even close, at least around here. Given the choice I'll have a well every time. The idea that someone will shut off your water if you don't pay your bill is repulsive to me.

Speaking of which, while that part of the country dries up, my well is literally spewing water out of it non-stop. The water table is so high after a week of rain that the well has (according to the well guy) "gone artesian".

 

[FNG]

At least they have nice weather in SoCal....wouldn't want to have it spoiled by a little rain.

 

[fronobulax]

The idea that someone will shut off your water if you don't pay your bill is repulsive to me.

All you are doing is choosing the someone. Your water can be effectively shut off when the electric company shuts you off for non-payment and the fuel for your generator is not free. Even a handpump and buckets have an opportunity cost because you could be paid if you were doing something besides pumping ;-)

 

[GAD]

All you are doing is choosing the someone. Your water can be effectively shut off when the electric company shuts you off for non-payment and the fuel for your generator is not free. Even a handpump and buckets have an opportunity cost because you could be paid if you were doing something besides pumping ;-)

“Cost” is not my issue. “Control” is.

 

[crank]

Our city water is actually really good. Not too worried about it getting cut off. Now paying plumbers double time on a Sunday to try and locate our old well... not the best feeling, certainly not one of "control".

But yeah, here in the Northeast we are lucky to have the stuff falling from the sky however you want procure it.

 

[tommym]

In some states, you don't own the water/mineral rights below your property.

Tommy

 

[Default]

I'd rather have dessert than desert.

This.
A thread without a banana cream pie recipe is a dire thread indeed.

 

[Cougar]

Where does the water they drain off go?

Into the Pend Oreille River, where else? 130 miles later it goes into the Columbia River, which eventually empties into the Pacific.

 

[davismanLV]

Into the Pend Oreille River, where else? 130 miles later it goes into the Columbia River, which eventually empties into the Pacific.

Too bad you can't send it down here. Of course, if we had more water even MORE people would come. The Vegas Valley is at 2.3 million in 2018. By now it's probably closer to 2.5 million. We're running out of space AND water. How silly is that?

 

[LeFinPepere]

Into the Pend Oreille River, where else? 130 miles later it goes into the Columbia River, which eventually empties into the Pacific.

Totally irrelevant in this discussion, but I'd never seen the name "Pend Oreille". I love that! Awkward old-French name,with a very particular flavour, like so many North-American french words....Time-capsules, really...! (and the English prononciation make them even more exotic..I wonder how you people say "Pend oreille"?? It takes me instantly into Leatherstockings land... I live near the river Loire, which is the longest in France,the "King's River",kinky castles and all, maybe the last "wild" river here...It is not in good health; I suppose it's because we 've been collectively using it as a sewer.I think water and air should be "common goods", and not in the hands of private companies. The concept of "owning"the land was absurd to native peoples in America. I vaguely remember Chief Seattle's speech, warning about all that s***. Air is still tax-free, but "it just smells funny"!

 

[bobouz]

Too bad you can't send it down here.

Unfortunately Tom, we’re not really talking about excess water that just gets flushed into the Pacific. There’s a whole series of dams running down the Columbia & water siphoned off for irrigation every step of the way. Couple that with projected drought conditions throughout much of the northwest this summer, and the millions upon millions of gallons of water that will be needed to fight an ever exploding number of wildfires in all western states. Regionally, things are getting rather scary out there. Just google Lake Powell for for an eye-opener that could directly impact Vegas.

 

[FNG]

Totally irrelevant in this discussion, but I'd never seen the name "Pend Oreille". I love that! Awkward old-French name,with a very particular flavour, like so many North-American french words....Time-capsules, really...! (and the English prononciation make them even more exotic..I wonder how you people say "Pend oreille"?? It takes me instantly into Leatherstockings land... I live near the river Loire, which is the longest in France,the "King's River",kinky castles and all, maybe the last "wild" river here...It is not in good health; I suppose it's because we 've been collectively using it as a sewer.I think water and air should be "common goods", and not in the hands of private companies. The concept of "owning"the land was absurd to native peoples in America. I vaguely remember Chief Seattle's speech, warning about all that s***. Air is still tax-free, but "it just smells funny"!

It's not absurd to them now lol.

 

[Midnight Toker]

“Cost” is not my issue. “Control” is.

That's just a state of mind. Fact is, it's a service, and one that's for the better of all in heavily populated areas. Especially near streams, rivers, bodies of water. Basically, I don't care one bit if someone has a well or city water. For me it's 100% the septic system that's a concern. I know many people in my area w/ both well and city water. They have city water that goes to their kitchen and bathrooms, and well water that goes to all outside spigots. They have 2 meters, and the well meter is subtracted from their city meter so they aren't being charged for city sewage fees associated w/ overall water usage. But when I think of "Control", it's more the lack of control of other people's countless failed aging septic systems that have been leeching into my beloved Severn River for the past 50+ years. And when they are given a bid from a septic service to replace the old system,(15-30k!) and they see it'll take a major chunk out of their life savings, if they can even afford it at all, it just gets put off., and their fecal soup continues to leech into the river. Many of these waterfront communities are old vacation home communities from the days before the Bay Bridge gave millions of vacationers access to the Atlantic beaches. Most of the old cottages have now been replaced by big houses, and with that came city water and sewage. But, there are still LOTS of private homes in the area that aren't part of a community, and they are largely responsible for the poor health of the river. As newer communities were built in the proximity of these private homes, those with outdated septics were connected to city sewage, and just in the last 5-6 years, the Severn has been in the early stages of seeing sea grasses and other aquatic plants flourish. Talking to some of the old timer watermen, they say it's finally starting to look like it did back when they were a kid. Back when watermen actually use to work the Severn. Something they haven't been able to do in many decades. I'm out fishing on my kayak every weekend, but will not eat anything that comes out of this river. Not until the people with "control" quit controlling the environment and lives of everyone else.

Sewage Contamination | Anne Arundel County, MD

Anne Arundel County, Maryland

www.aacounty.org

 

[Cougar]

There’s a whole series of dams running down the Columbia & water siphoned off for irrigation every step of the way.

Right, there are also several dams on the Clark Fork River that feeds into Lake Pend Oreille. The Pend Oreille River is really a continuation of the Clark Fork. Our temp home has 320 feet of riverfront along the Clark Fork. It is between two dams that are, oddly, pretty close together, like just 10 miles or so. So our stretch of the river is pretty tame. And the place came with it's own Canada goose, who is always here!

 

[chazmo]

I live right on the banks of the secondary water reservoir that provides the metropolitan Boston area. Ironically, after the state flooded parts of four towns to build the Wachusett reservoir in 1900s, the partially-flooded towns got no access to the water! All the towns get is PILOT tax money, which in modern terms in no way makes up for the lost land area. FYI, we're about 50 miles west of Boston.

The four towns with land area that composes the reservoir have wells, despite the fact that a stream which runs through my back yard feeds the reservoir.

Anyway, this is all just interesting history for the way things went around New England (which has plenty of good water). Water in the western states has been a subject of controversy since I was a kid. It is really wild to drive around California's central valley and see all the irrigation that occurs in the desert!

 

[GAD]

That's just a state of mind. Fact is, it's a service, and one that's for the better of all in heavily populated areas. Especially near streams, rivers, bodies of water. Basically, I don't care one bit if someone has a well or city water. For me it's 100% the septic system that's a concern. I know many people in my area w/ both well and city water. They have city water that goes to their kitchen and bathrooms, and well water that goes to all outside spigots. They have 2 meters, and the well meter is subtracted from their city meter so they aren't being charged for city sewage fees associated w/ overall water usage. But when I think of "Control", it's more the lack of control of other people's countless failed aging septic systems that have been leeching into my beloved Severn River for the past 50+ years. And when they are given a bid from a septic service to replace the old system,(15-30k!) and they see it'll take a major chunk out of their life savings, if they can even afford it at all, it just gets put off., and their fecal soup continues to leech into the river. Many of these waterfront communities are old vacation home communities from the days before the Bay Bridge gave millions of vacationers access to the Atlantic beaches. Most of the old cottages have now been replaced by big houses, and with that came city water and sewage. But, there are still LOTS of private homes in the area that aren't part of a community, and they are largely responsible for the poor health of the river. As newer communities were built in the proximity of these private homes, those with outdated septics were connected to city sewage, and just in the last 5-6 years, the Severn has been in the early stages of seeing sea grasses and other aquatic plants flourish. Talking to some of the old timer watermen, they say it's finally starting to look like it did back when they were a kid. Back when watermen actually use to work the Severn. Something they haven't been able to do in many decades. I'm out fishing on my kayak every weekend, but will not eat anything that comes out of this river. Not until the people with "control" quit controlling the environment and lives of everyone else.

Sewage Contamination | Anne Arundel County, MD

Anne Arundel County, Maryland

www.aacounty.org

I encourage you to embrace the paragraph.

I’m currently nearing the end of a $35k septic replacement.

 

[lungimsam]

Midnight, you ought to try Marley Creek, hon!!!

 

[dreadnut]

I've often said that Michigan is one of the richest states due to all the water. You're never more than six miles from a lake or stream in Michigan. Our drinking water comes from Lake Michigan

And of course, lots of people have designs on the big lakes; fortunately, they managed to kill California's proposal to pump Lake Michigan out West.

 

[lungimsam]

Sometimes I wonder what the first settlers were thinking when they stood around in Los Angeles when it was an empty desert and said to themselves “yeah this will be a good place to build a city.” Same way places like North Dakota, Buffalo, etc. I guess people wound up there because they didn’t have anywhere else they could go. Or maybe that place had resources that could make them rich.Deadly landscapes yet humans still dared to populate.

 

[powdog]

Los Angeles was never a dry desert. The LA River that now flows down a concrete channel used to be an alluvial river that ran freely and flooded areas from Los Angeles to San Pedro. Many native villages flourished in the basin’s marshlands. Progress and water battles turned it into a desert.