Use a wand when hand watering.
Its late in the day, you just picked up a load of recycled water but you don’t have time to water the yard. What can you do? Unload your tank into a temporary storage tank and water the plants when you have time.
In this guide, we’ll show you what one recycled water hauler built to make his life easier.
Source: KellyDrums.com
IBC Totes, 275 gallon totes, 300 gallon totes, carboys or whatever you want to call them. These things.
They’re big, they hold a lot of water, and they’re difficult to hook up to garden hoses. Why? Fittings for them are hard to find at the local hardware store.
Fire up your creativity, we’re going to show you how to hook up an IBC tote to a garden hose.
Agency totals since opening.
Water agencies across the state are lowering their water conservation targets and as I’ve seen around my neighborhood, some homeowners are back to over-watering their grass by flooding their front yard and watering the sidewalk. It would appear that mandatory water use cuts last year have become just a thing of the past.
As water use requirements drop, many agencies have wondered how this will impact residential recycled water fill station operations. Will recycled water haulers who visit any of the 22 recycled water fill stations in the state continue to fill up or revert back to using their sprinklers? How has activity changed month over month or year over year? We’ll show you the numbers.
City of Brentwood
This is the second part to our series “Meet the Agency Behind The Fill Station – City of Brentwood.”
Water Resource Recovery Facilities are the future and the City of Brentwood has been on the scene since their new facility was built in 2003. There is more to this agency than what any recycled water hauler sees when they drive through the fill station. I received an exclusive tour with Wastewater Operations Manager Casey Wichert and was very impressed with their streamlined processes, making them an excellent example agency for others to follow.
Shut-off valves restrict flow.
I’ve always used a shutoff valve on the hose to my recycled water bladder so that when I’m done filling up I could have an easy way to seal the bag. When unloading, I would just open the valve when connected to my pump. Little did I know that valve was causing problems. The biggest part was I was choking my pump.
IBC Tote
275 gallon IBC totes are the most popular option for hauling recycled water. They’re solid plastic tanks with a steel cage around them, can be easily strapped down to a truck bed or trailer and have large openings for filling and draining.
Sometimes called plastic totes, carboys, 275 gallon tanks, water totes, 275 gallon plastic water tanks, truck bed water tanks, you get the idea. They come in 275 gallon, 300 gallon and 325 gallon varieties.
But what do the tanks weigh when empty?
275 gallon tote in an Ford F150.
The City of Brentwood has a love affair with recycled water. Driving into town it became obvious why such a small treatment plant has given away so much water. Nearly every capable vehicle is either hauling a tote or towing a trailer with a recycled water tank on it. At every stoplight, driving by the gas station, in front of the local Ace Hardware, it seems like everyone hauls recycled water, an impressive feat considering less than 3% of the population does it.
For its one year anniversary, Casey Wichert, Wastewater Operations Manager at the City of Brentwood, invited me to tour their Residential Recycled Water Fill Station and Water Resource Recovery Facility.
Summer is in full swing and recycled water is flowing out fill station hoses by the million gallons per week! Preliminary stats are in and we’re looking great considering drought rules have been relaxed.
In June, 4 more residential recycled water fill stations opened in the state of California.
In the three months City of Healdsburgs’ fill station was open last year, they gave away 111,947 gallons of recycled water to 26 registered customers. Self-haulers used it to irrigate grass, tree’s, flower gardens or vineyards. Recycled water is a perfect resource, saving precious drinking water supplies.
Read on to see every article you missed in June 2016!
Two 55 gallon barrels in a Tacoma.
If the headlines are true, “It will take years of wet weather before California recovers from drought, study finds“, then residential recycled water fill stations are here to stay, for a while longer. This is great news for recycled water haulers everywhere. Many have already setup up their irrigation systems and their solution works for them. We can all learn from their mechanical ingenuity.
Take for instance one hauler who lives in Oakley, California, he hauls 1700-1800 gallons of recycled water a month via two 55 gallon drums in the back of his Toyota Tacoma. This is his story.
Utility pump connected to 150 gallon water bladder.
By my calculations, I have hauled over 23,000 gallons of recycled water since buying my first tank in 2014. In that span, I have made 159 trips to and from a fill station, driven over 1,100 miles while carrying an extra 1250 pounds in my truck. I have since purchased a new set of tires and what do I have to show for it? My water bill is down 92% from 2013 levels and my drought tolerant yard has never been greener.
I happily haul recycled water because it is the right thing to do.
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