Shit that annoys you

[Danno]

The average Joe doesn't think about water rights here in the rural northeast because in a lot of places, we have too much water. Until we don't. The current drought map for New England that was posted in that other thread was interesting, alarming, and illuminating.

That and the water laws are completely different.

I have often said that the "water wars" that everyone assumes are coming out West are actually going to happen in the East. While of course it is drier in the West, we have an entirely different set of water laws because of that reality. Our entire legal regime is premised on the notion that there isn't enough water, we know who gets what as the system gets drier.

In the East, the legal regime in place exists because of abundant water. But due to climate change, we are sure to see droughts and not enough water in some places, sometime. And there are no rules for how that works, who gets what. Anarchy.

I’d say aquifer recharge from residential use is practically nil. In most western places if you dig down two feet in the middle of watering season, you’ll still find bone dry soil (true here in Spokane and we’re certainly not the desert SW). So water that is put on the lawn and absorbed into the first few inches of soil will generally go into the grass or evaporate over time. Actually it’ll pretty much all evaporate because that’s what’s happening to your green grass too.

And water that goes through the water treatment plant (most runoff and all sewer) probably gets dumped into the river and goes away, not recharging the aquifer.

For your first paragraph, isn't that what I said? That generally, there is no recharge from lawn watering, it's all consumptive, or if overwatered, surface runoff.

As to your second paragraph, while true, it's probably not helpful to think of "aquifer" versus "stream", because in most places they are the same thing, it's just that the surface stream moves faster. Most places there is no "aquifer" to "recharge" that is separate from the surface stream, it is all a question of timing, i.e. when the water hits the stream.

There are some places where underground aquifers exist that are entirely or mostly separate from surface streams (like the Ogallala) but those are the exceptions rather than the rule.

[ötzi]

Jumping back to air travel…

I hate the fucking boarding process when flying Southwest. Just let me pick a seat or seats when I book my flight and cut the shit. Charge everyone $2-$3 more per flight and that will easily offset any lost revenue for those who pay extra for early bird checkin.

It's not about that, it's a psychological ploy to get people to line up and charge onto the plane to grab a seat as fast as possible so they can get the planes in the air faster. And it works like a charm.

[zion zig zag]

Generally speaking, watering a lawn shouldn't be recharging an aquifer because that probably means you're significantly overwatering.

So, pretty much what I was saying with my first post. Glad we got back there.

[old goat]

The problem with xeriscaping in a place like Sacramento that has a lot of trees is that you still have to water enough to keep the tree alive. While that can be infrequent--once a month for hours, it's still not good for drought adapted plants. The second problem is that drought adapted plants don't like the shade of big trees. You can just not grow anything--although if you're watering the tree something is still going to grow. Another option is artificial grass, which keeps "weeds" from growing but is permeable enough to water the tree through.

Given the benefit of trees in absorbing CO2 and reducing the temp of tree-lined neighborhoods--a good 10F in Sacramento--it seems to me that at the very least we should be watering enough to keep the trees alive and pray for rain. In places like LV without shade trees it's different. LV has everyone ripping out their lawns.

BTW I wonder how much the lower temp in green neighborhoods is from the evaporation of all the water applied to the lawns and not just due to the shade.

[KQ]

I've always found this interesting about the system of aquifers where I live:

Columbia Plateau Aquifer System

The Columbia Plateau Aquifer system is a series of layered aquifers across ~44,000 mi2 of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The aquifer system is on the Columbia Plateau, contained within the Cascades, Rocky Mountains, Okanogan Highlands, and the Blue Mountains. These aquifers are bounded on the bottom by a layer of Miocene basaltic rock that can be up to 15,000 ft thick. The primary aquifers in the system are shallow, and unconfined.

of note:

The primary use of groundwater is for crop irrigation. Areas of the plateau with high surface irrigation have less concern over groundwater depletion due to reinfiltration of excess water into the aquifer system. Areas where groundwater depletion is a concern are in the Umatilla area, and the Palouse slope. In the Umatilla area, total decline since the 1970s is from 300 ft to 100 ft of water height. Overall, between 1968-2009, mean groundwater decline across the aquifer system was at 1.0 ft/year.






My water right is a surface right out of the Walla Walla river but I also have a secondary right off my well which is not a basalt well.



Edit/Add: HOLY SMOKES there are a lot of threads on tankless water heaters! Coming in a close second or lawn and water right questions because yanno.... Whiskey's for drinking, water's for fightin'

[BC.]

Jumping back to air travel…

I hate the fucking boarding process when flying Southwest. Just let me pick a seat or seats when I book my flight and cut the shit. Charge everyone $2-$3 more per flight and that will easily offset any lost revenue for those who pay extra for early bird checkin.

This is why I don’t fly Southwest…..I’ll pay more with Delta/United just to not have to put up with that shit….(although I haven’t flown since pandemic….so every airline would probably piss me off now a days..)

[2bjenny]

Go around landings. Experienced my first one at DFW this weekend. Not a fan.

[paulster2626]

I live near Lake Ontario. The skiing sucks balls, but at least I can water my grass, trees, and gardens with reckless abandon. And top up the pool when needed.

[Name Redacted]

Go around landings. Experienced my first one at DFW this weekend. Not a fan.

You probably liked that better than the alternative though.

[riser4]

Go around landings. Experienced my first one at DFW this weekend. Not a fan.

You must not fly often.

[Timberridge]

Bird shit. The birds have been shitting all over my stuff lately.

[riser4]

Bird shit. The birds have been shitting all over my stuff lately.

Good thing birds aren't real.

[Danno]

Are you at the beach?

[2bjenny]

You probably liked that better than the alternative though.

True

[2bjenny]

You must not fly often.

Not in the last two years, but I do try to avoid DFW, where this seems to be not be that unusual.

[2bjenny]

Pigs. They’re loud and they stink. A semi wrecked on I15 yesterday. We ended up holding about 200 pig & piglets for the county yesterday afternoon. I felt bad for them, they were overheating, stressed, and some were injured, so we gave the shade & water until the truck arrived. I’m not sure how many died in the accident. Now our Quonset stinks and is a mess. Bacon, however, is delicious.

[nickwm21]

Go around landings. Experienced my first one at DFW this weekend. Not a fan.

Have you been through an aborted takeoff? Shit gets real - real quick.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[Timberridge]

Have you been through an aborted takeoff? Shit gets real - real quick.

Have you ever jumped out of the back of a plane with no chute?

[dunfree]

Have you ever jumped out of the back of a plane with no chute?

Is that you DB Cooper?

[JongDoe]

When a poster on this forum for some reason changes the font color so that it cannot be read without highlighting the text. What is the reason for that??

[Thaleia]

The solution for 90% of lawn issues is water and keeping the grass longer. I cut mine on the 2nd highest setting. When it gets hot and never rains like this summer, the grass goes dormant. It's not dead, it's just a defense mechanism allowing it to survive. As soon as the cool weather and rains come back in late summer/fall, it'll spring back to life. So up to you if you want to spend the $ on keeping it green or not.



My problem with having a dormant lawn is that crabgrass will start to creep in from the driveway/curbs, and I need to dig it all out to keep it from fully taking over. If I keep my grass long and green, then nothing else has a chance to even get started.

HOT TIP: when you do start to water it or it rains again/whatever, there will be some spots where the grass just doesn't seem to want to come back to life. I bet the problem is for some reason the soil has become hydrophobic, and water is just running off the surface to the area around it (which will get green, quick). Solution is to put some baby shampoo in a sprayer and soak the spot with it. It'll get nice and bubbly. Then go back to just straight water and rinse it all away. Take a soil sample (with an aerator or just test with a screwdriver even) and you'll see that now water is getting down to the roots and in a few days it'll look much better. Worst case you are just adding more water to your grass, so it can't hurt.

Hey appreciate that, especially the hydrophobic bit. Definitely have that going on in the worse patch. Will give the baby shampoo a try.

To the green lawn naysayers - As a somewhat new home owner, I don't think I need to apologize for wanting my property to look a certain way. Also I as well as Paulster are in Ontario - we aren't exactly hurting for water resources.

EDIT ok Paulster kinda beat me to the punch with the last bit.

[J. Barron DeJong]

When a poster on this forum for some reason changes the font color so that it cannot be read without highlighting the text. What is the reason for that??

Maybe directed at me?

I have to browse/post from my phone, since work computer is blocked from anything not work related. Copying, pasting, then reformatting text on the phone is annoying, so I often don’t reformat, and you get to see copied black text on a dark blue background.

[El Chupacabra]

Decided to finally get around to cleaning the clothes dryer vent, which hasn't been cleaned since we installed that dryer - around 9 years ago. Floor underneath was pretty filthy... but it wasn't as bad as the lint covered, mummified chipmunk / ground squirrel that came out of the wall vent when I disconnected the hose. Gross.

There wasn't that much lint buildup otherwise.

[PB]

So .... toss a dead varmint in your dryer vent to avoid house fire???

[dunfree]

You put lemmiwinks in the laundry?