Water supply is an issue in Florida. We'd probably be a desert, like most places at our latitude, if we weren't embraced by two large bodies of water. What's more, the water table is generally high, so it's easy to foul the nest with pollutants. So what do we do about it?
I'm sure there is much being done at the state level, and I don't minimize its importance, but I'm more concerned at the moment with what can be done at the community, family, and individual level. Our city pioneered the residential use of treated wastewater for irrigation and car washing; in addition to the usual, potable water system, each home has a source of reclaimed water. Although the water is considered non-potable, with the exception of nitrate and phosphate levels it meets federal standards normally applied to drinking water, so it's safe—and the plants love the extra nitrates and phosphates.The water is reclaimed and fixed-fee, but still a limited resource, so we use a drip irrigation system for many of our plants. Our backyard is mostly landscaped with plants that are meant to survive on their own in Florida (i.e. what grows without help from us) and we allow the lawn out front to go dormant during the winter dry season. When we do water the lawn, it is as much for the fertilizing properties of the reclaimed water as for the water itself.
We have more incentive to conserve potable water, since we pay per gallon, but that's harder to do. If I were designing a house, and had no financial limitations, there would be wastewater collection systems in parallel with every drain, with an easy-to-use switch, so that relatively clean wastewater, such as shower drainage, would be reused—perhaps for flushing toilets, or for watering plants—while the nastier stuff would go directly to the city's treatment plant. As it is, however, we must make do with simpler systems. There are a number of reasons I wish Home Depot sold Japanese toilets, one of which is the excellent system in which wastewater from handwashing helps fill the tank for the next flush. But Home Depot doesn't, and our bathroom sinks are small enough that we haven't yet found a reasonable way (i.e. one we're willing to use on a regular basis) of recovering washing water.
The kitchen sink is another matter. Ours is a double sink, and a Rubbermaid dishpan fits neatly into one side. Water that is run while waiting for it to get warm (or cool) we catch in milk jugs and use for everything from watering our worms to rinsing our feet after a barefoot walk. Handwashing and vegetable rinsing water—anything that doesn't get the water too gloppy—is collected and re-used, generally for rinsing dishes or watering plants. If for rinsing dishes, it subsequently gets reused another time, for running the waste disposer. We find this system easy to use, largely because our gardens are just steps away from the kitchen, and it's astonishing how much water can be saved with such a little effort. I'm not sure how well it would have worked at other stages in our lives, but for now it is great.
The direct inspiration for this was actually not Florida's water problems, but a visit to relatives whose water supply is their own well with an electric pump—an electric pump that doesn't work during a power failure, of which we experienced several during our visit. Then I learned how much a little stored water could be stretched!Do you do anything with rainwater? We have two 50 gallon barrels that we collect rainwater in at the island. We use it for washing dishes. In town here, they offered barrels (for a reasonable fee) to hook to our gutters so that we could collect water to water our gardens.
Interesting you should mention that. A friend—independently of my post—mentioned an article you might find interesting, and which I had planned to comment on here: Who Owns the Rain? Hint: It's Not Always Homeowners. Scary—but not surprising, I guess, when you can own a house but not the mineral rights to the land it's on, as is the case in Western Pennsylvania. The air above your house is also not yours: you have the legal right to breathe it (not that it's been tested, to my knowledge) but not to charge rent of the airplanes flying overhead.
From that article I found this fancy rain barrel system, the
Aaaargh! When will I learn to copy my long comments before posting. If I make a mistake in the html the rest of the post evaporates like a drop of water in the desert.
Our barrels in Maine have a mesh screen covering the top of them and secured around the top of the barrel. A section of downspout rests on top. The idea being that the screen will let the water in, but nothing else. Really, we are just trying to keep leaves and pine needles out, not insects. It is an island, with coves and mud and puddles, so I think the mosquitoes have plenty of places to breed.
We have a steel roof in Maine, but I would still want some sort of filter if I were going to drink it. A much better system than what we used to do which is use river water for washing dishes.
I didn't take a look a real close look at the rain barrels the town was offering, but I think they actually had some kind of lid that had a place that could be attached to a downspout.
As I was saying...
From that article I found this fancy rain barrel system: Rainwater HOG. Looks pretty nice. If we had a good composting system, I'd divert part of our rainwater through it and make compost tea. (See Heather's comment on my worm post.) One concern I would have would be keeping mosquitoes out; I don't want to provide them a nice supply of standing water in which to breed. How do your rain barrels accomplish that?
On a visit to some friends in New Zealand, I was very impressed to discover that all their water, for drinking as well as washing, was collected rainwater. Their roof was made of material (I don't remember what) that did not add anything harmful to the water, which was stored in a very large, concrete cistern. Only in rare times of drought did they have to supplement with purchased water—and they raised three boys on that system! Apparently it's not unusual in New Zealand.
