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In The News … More Contra Costa residents using free, recycled water to keep landscapes green

May 14, 2015 / nick / 0 Comments

KTVU Channel 2 news in the bay area came out to the Recycled Water fill station in Martinez yesterday and interviewed their public relations representative and a member of the public who waters his grass with free RecycledH2O.

“A couple weeks ago I went to Lake Chabot and it looked like it was down about 30 feet,” he said. “It was mind-boggling.”

Liberty is one of the hundreds of people who’ve signed up for the recycled water program this year. The number of users has more than doubled in the past month.

Tolerance of landscape TREE species to Recycled Water Spray

May 13, 2015 / nick / 1 Comment

As previously noted in “What Impact Does Recycled Water Have On Plants In The Garden” this is the first in a series of data as provided from the UC Davis Report on “Landscape Plant Selection Guide For Recycled Water Irrigation“.

For this massive table, plants are listed in 4 columns. The first is its Botanical Name, second column is Common Name, third column is its tolerance to salt spray and fourth column is its tolerance to soil salinity.

Plants were watered with spray irrigation from recycled water.

What impact does RecycledH2O have on plants in the garden?

May 7, 2015 / nick / 1 Comment

What is in recycled water?

The process to create recycled water begins at the end of a wastewater treatment plant. Think of its source as water suitable for the receiving waterway. Depending on how it’s treated – recycled water will be dosed with some Sodium Hypochlorite (NaCl) [I’ll call it Chlorine] – used as a disinfectant.

The recycled water permit issued by the state dictates how much residual Chlorine is in the water – Title 22 is that permit if you want some bedtime reading – http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/drinkingwater/Documents/Lawbook/RWregulations-01-2009.pdf.

At every recycled water treatment facility, they are required continually test their recycled water Chlorine residual levels 24 hours a day and store the results.

Adventures at CCCSD Residential Fill Station

May 1, 2015 / nick / 0 Comments

Earlier this week I posted Step-by-Step – Getting and Unloading RecycledH2O from CCCSD Residential Fill Station. This is a follow-up in regards to the Adventures at CCCSD Residential Fill Station.

When the fill station first opened in November 2014, they didn’t have much activity. In December it rained cats and dogs and flooded parts of Sausalito. Same for January. Soon word got out and the onslaught of Free Recycled Water hungry residents descended on the Residential Fill Station at CCCSD in Martinez. CentralSan had a need to promote their fill station – its usage is apart of their 2014-2016 Strategic Plan.

Step-by-Step – Getting and Unloading RecycledH2O from CCCSD Residential Fill Station

April 28, 2015 / nick / 0 Comments

I wrote my first post on Getting Started with RecycledH2O rather quickly and realized I may have left things out. I hope with this post it clarifies things a little.

My truck bed supports ~ 1200 lbs which is about 143 gallons of water (1200lbs divided by 8.34 lbs/gallon =143 gallons). I bought a 150 gallon tank that fits in the back of my truck. Larger trucks could support more weight, smaller vehicles hold less. It all depends on how much water you need and what is your application.

Things You Will Need (in no particular order)

Vehicle to transport water with – a gallon of water weighs 8.34 lbs
Tank to hold water in – should have a screw on cap/lid
Hose connection to unload tank
Pump (or gravity fed)
Discharge hose/piping to water yard or fill on site tank

April 22, 2015 / nick / 1 Comment

A short video on Getting RecycledH2O from the Residential Fill Station in Martinez.

What Can I Do – I Rent A House

April 19, 2015 / nick / 0 Comments

A co-worker of mine is looking for a house to rent and it brought my mind back to the days when I was a landlord. I barely made enough off rent to pay the mortgage and insurance, let alone upgrade or fix anything… but that is a topic that won’t be discussed on this blog. Whether you’re a landlord or a renter, this topic fits both of you.

As a landlord you’re looking at your bottom line, but you may not particularly care if your tenant pays the water bill. You may care if its included in rent.

As a renter, you might pay your water bill and know your usage or be oblivious to it as its covered in your rental agreement. Unfortunately you may be a breed of person that might not know that California is even in a drought. So really anything you do now will help.

In The News… – CCWD Board Approves State-Mandated Drought Emergency Plan

April 16, 2015 / nick / 0 Comments

Totally expected, EBMUD did it two days ago.

To comply with the state order for a 25 percent statewide reduction in water use, the Contra Costa Water District is implementing an updated drought program in a two-step process.

Starting Now: On April 15, the CCWD Board of Directors set a water conservation requirement of 25 percent compared to 2013 and adopted new water-use prohibitions to comply with statewide mandates that include limiting outdoor irrigation to two days per week. You are strongly encouraged to begin saving water immediately and adjust your automatic sprinklers now. You will not face any temporary pricing adjustment charges until the Board has approved the plan on June 4.
Soon: To encourage all customers to meet the 25 percent reduction requirement, the Board of Directors will consider temporary pricing adjustments as called for in the Governor’s Executive Order. If approved by the Board, this will include a temporary pricing adjustment for households that use more than 200 gallons per day. This would temporarily increase the unit cost of treated water by 50 cents. The Board will also consider a fine for violating water use prohibitions.
You will not be subject to the temporary pricing adjustment until the Board approves the plan. If approved on June 3, it would be most-likely become effective immediately.
As proposed, if you use less than 200 gallons per day, you will not be subjected to the temporary pricing adjustment. Households that reduce water use by 25 percent will be able to lower their bills.

If you see CCWater Customers wasting water – let CCWD know about it. http://www.ccwater.com/customerservice/waterwaste.asp

Thinking of Re-Landscaping – Consider a Swale

April 16, 2015 / nick / 6 Comments

Thinking of re-landscaping? Consider including a Swale in your design.

Wait! What is a swale?

As defined by Wikipedia – Swales “are designed to slow and capture runoff by spreading it horizontally across the landscape (along an elevation contour line), facilitating runoff infiltration into the soil.”

In The News… – EBMUD Board Approves Drought Measures, Increase Restriction

April 14, 2015 / nick / 0 Comments

As posted a few days, EBMUD was expected to approve Governor Jerry Browns mandated water restrictions. Now they have.

As expected, East Bay Municipal Utility District’s 1.3 million customers are in for some drastic water restrictions and increased penalties unless they get on board with water conservation.

On Tuesday, the EBMUD board approved several measures and declared a stage 4 drought emergency. They also increased conservation targets from 15% to 20%.

The problem is, those who live in the East Bay aren’t anywhere near those targets.

“Our customers have not given it to us this year, so far we have only gotten 6%, so we really need to step up our game in terms of conservation,” said EBMUD spokesperson Nelsy Rodriguez.

The board is set to adopt outdoor watering restrictions. The limit for outdoor watering is already limited to 2 days a week, but now the hours between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. will be off limits.

If you see EBMUD users wasting water – let EBMUD know. http://www.ebmud.com/report-water-waste

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