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8to24 t1_iudkuny wrote

Reply to comment by aukir in U.S. Streams Are Drying Up. Data showed that in the South and West, streamflow droughts got longer between 1951 and 2020, regardless of threshold. Worse yet, droughts in these regions are becoming more intense by Wagamaga

Lawns, golf courses, washing cars, flushing toilets, etc

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Kytyngurl2 t1_iudoog4 wrote

Toilets ought to be grey water only. Using old shower, laundry, and rain water. We throw away water that’s still usable for something.

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thintoast t1_iudpjub wrote

I’m not sure how common it is, but when I visited Ireland a few years back, a place we stayed at had a rainwater collection tank that held partially treated water for toilet flushing and bathroom hand washing. A super simple concept and extremely resourceful.

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H3rbert_K0rnfeld t1_iudxr5k wrote

You don't want to get caught with a rain barrel in Utah or Cali

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Celesticle t1_iudy63x wrote

Rain barrels are legal in Utah now have been for a few years.

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H3rbert_K0rnfeld t1_iue07av wrote

Ah! TIL! Now ya'll just need rain to fill them ;-)

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Celesticle t1_iue1hwx wrote

Yeah that would be lovely. Consistent rain anyway. We got sporadic heavy rain over the summer. Plenty of floods in Southern Utah, Moab hit hard a few times, but Great Salt Lake is dangerously low and our legislature is incompetent and greedy so I have little faith they'll fix anything before it's too late.

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SNRatio t1_iue6og6 wrote

They're fine in California, at least where I live. I have three near my front door.

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[deleted] t1_iudtci2 wrote

Population of Ireland 4.6 million

Population of the United States 326 million

Population of China 1.39 Billion

You see how rain barrels aren't going to scale?

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strausbreezy28 t1_iudvzhp wrote

This is a silly comment. You would need to do an analysis that involves population, population density, rainfall, rainfall density and frequency, etc. in order to say whether or not that kind of system would scale. Not just looking at population.

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MyNameis_Not_Sure t1_iudxf24 wrote

And determine where unlimited rain water harvesting is still legal… Colorado has already regulated this and I’m sure they aren’t alone

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[deleted] t1_iudxtg3 wrote

Colorado legalized collecting years ago...right after the longest hardest rains came to a sudden and permenant end. I collected ridiculous amounts of water, then found out I wasn't allowed to, dumped it and then they changed the damn law.

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MyNameis_Not_Sure t1_iudyi3m wrote

They codified a limited amount of rainwater collection. Colorado did nothing to legalize it, it’s been legal since the dawn of time

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[deleted] t1_iudxvvl wrote

How many rain barrels you need to wash 100,000 people's hands?

10,000 people?

1000 people?

100 people?

1.28 gallons per toilet that's 69.5 Billion gallons required to flush Chinese toilets if they only flush once day. 50 gallons per barrel, you need 1.39 Billion barrels filled every single day.

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8to24 t1_iudytxk wrote

This pedantic argument totally misses the point. It isn't that rain water is the answer for the whole world. It is that treated potable water shouldn't be used for toilets. In some places rain water may work. In other places lightly filtered gray water (sink & laundry) might do the trick.

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cammoblammo t1_iuffyqi wrote

Why would you only have a fifty gallon barrel?

Here in Australia a small water tank is about 250 gallons. It’s not uncommon to find tanks twenty or even fifty times that size.

I know plenty of people who run their entire house with rainwater.

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[deleted] t1_iufouut wrote

The law says 110 gallons max. There's a deal to get water from the Colorado River signed by five states, taking water on residential properties prevents water from running off into the river.

Something like 70% of Australia is uninhabitable.

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cammoblammo t1_iugvsmf wrote

A large area of Australia is uninhabitable, which is why we use big-arse tanks to catch the rain.

In most new dwellings in some states (even—especially—in cities) it’s mandatory to have rainwater tanks installed.

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Rednys t1_iug487w wrote

You flushing your toilet is not simply throwing it away. And adding more plumbing and tanks to hold and distribute your grey water adds complexity and cost to housing and more maintenance. All this for an extremely small amount of water "saved".
Additionally if your waste water isn't being diluted by some "clean" water it's much more toxic and much more solid which could also lead to problems.

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xeneks t1_iugs9lb wrote

The waste being diluted enough so it’s able to be treated and doesn’t solidify or clog in pipes is something that I am sure is an actual issue. I wonder if they have to add water sometimes to offset the water saving of residents who achieve amazing low water consumption patterns? Also, if they have to add water to be able to actually process the wastewater as it’s received? This is why I think a way to create little bags of faeces like in the martian movie and book, makes sense. The faeces is a high cost, high value component. Simply bagging it means suddenly pipes have less physical material to address, and also, the faeces isn’t contaminated with other chemicals such as detergents or hair or clothes or or teeth or hand washing compounds.

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draeath t1_iudy2d3 wrote

In most (non-septic) US households at least, the drains and toilets all go to the same place. I don't think you want to recirculate that for flushing, the result won't be much better than letting it sit.

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AaronJeep t1_iuffgvo wrote

Most of the smaller 1.5" pipe drains (sinks, tubs, washers) make their way under the house via PVC networks until they connect with larger 3" and 4" drains used by toilets. You could reroute just the shower drain on millions of homes to a tank and a small put could feed it back to toilets. It would never mix with raw sewage. It wouldn't be reasonable with homes built on a slab, you could still do it pretty easy on millions and millions of homes, apartments and such. That would save millions and million of gallons of water.

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Rednys t1_iug4o2n wrote

How about instead of replumbing houses and apartments we get rid of lawns and golf courses in deserts. Maybe not farming in a desert is a better and easier solution.

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LateMiddleAge t1_iudt40v wrote

Golf course worldwide use ~4.5B people's sustainment water. A simplifying statement---water is unevenly distributed, heavy, and hard to move---but is helpful for framing the scope.

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Lord_Montague t1_iuduyhr wrote

Golf courses even in nice climates should be forced to use reclaimed water or runoff where possible. It's not like we are using that water anyway. Golf courses in the desert can just go away. Green grass is not meant to exist there and that is the most wasteful use of water I can think of.

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1stGetAClew t1_iufuj9g wrote

I live in a nice climate. The city I live in uses less than 50% of it's allowed draw from underground aquifers and the aquifers send hundreds of billions of litres beyond all the consented draws of water straight into the ocean every year. What justification do you have for any of my local courses using reprocessed water which requires significant energy input for irrigation? It seems like a very poorly thought out idea to be honest.

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xeneks t1_iugse5t wrote

I see the profit motive now. Interesting number.

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[deleted] t1_iuerqa6 wrote

Gold courses should be criminalized.

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ZSCampbellcooks t1_iudzdnk wrote

Those are a “drop in the bucket” compared to livestock production for profit.

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m4fox90 t1_iudt8hy wrote

You can take my clean, shiny car from my cold, dead hands

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8to24 t1_iudwdtg wrote

One doesn't need consumable clean water to clean a car. I didn't mean one should never wash a car. Rather the way we wash cars is wasteful.

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aukir t1_iudzmpg wrote

They do recycle water, but those unlimited drive through spray washers seem so wasteful.

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m4fox90 t1_iudypf2 wrote

Have you ever washed a car with dirty water? It doesn’t work. Mineral deposits prevent wax and ceramic sealants from adhering properly, as well as leaving stains. You have to use clean water.

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8to24 t1_iudziot wrote

Just because water isn't potable doesn't mean it is too dirty to clean your car.

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Palpitating_Rattus t1_iuffbhr wrote

You CANT use graywater to wash your car. Try using your shower water to wash your windows. It doesn't work. This is common sense.

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8to24 t1_iufg04o wrote

Filter gray water would work.

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Palpitating_Rattus t1_iufg8mx wrote

Soap and dirt and bacteria are still there. Your car will smell and look like dog turd

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8to24 t1_iufiddr wrote

>In order to reduce fresh water and sewer costs, and to eliminate the impact of contaminated water on the environment, car wash owners install recycling systems in their washes. In many municipalities, these systems are required in order for the business to meet code and receive a permit. https://columbiatireauto.com/the-high-value-of-recycled-water-in-an-automatic-car-wash/

It is literally already a thing. I don't understand what point you are attempting to make.

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phyrros t1_iue1vk3 wrote

well, considering the direction we are going both car usage as well as a far higher death rate will me more common anyway

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