Our City''s unreasonable water rules - GRRRRRR!

[kenny]

Our city has made it illegal to "waste" water.
You can be fined if caught watering lawns or landscaping on certain days or at certain times.
You cannot hose down a patio, driveway or sidewalk.

I'm a hoser.
It removes way more dust than sweeping.
I'd hose down the grounds about monthly.
I have always directed the water sideways into the lawn.
Almost no water makes it down to the street.
Compared to hosing the driveway the usual way (pointing the water downhill towards the street) I'd say my technique reduces waste by 90%.

I still do it 3 or 4 times a year, breaking the law.
I think about what I'll say if the vice squad arrests me.

We don't have an outdoor evaporating koi pond, swimming pool or jacuzzi like many of our neighbors.
Our lawns are a borderline green/brown unlike 50% of our neighbors.
We have no landscaping that requires water besides the lawn.
We have a front-loading clothes washer.
Only two people live in this house.
And our most significant green contribution (that affects much more than just water) is we did not have kids.

Compare water use and ours would be in the lowest 10% of all houses in this city.

Is your water use limited - yet?

 

[y2kitty]

I''ve always thought these rules were unfair. You have no idea what people are doing inside their homes - taking 40 minutes showers, excessively washing clothes, etc etc.

 

[kenny]

Yeah, I think they should just have graduated bills.

Something like . . .
1 cents per gallon for the first 1000 gallons per month.
2 cents per gallon for between 1001 and 2000 gallons.
5 cents per gallon for 2001 to 3000 gallons.
25 cents per gallon for 3001 to 4000 gallons.
$1 per gallon for 4001 to 5000 gallons.
$10 per gallon for 5001 to 6000 gallons.
etc.

Waste would plummet.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention this since I've been doing it so long.
Our water heater is in the garage so you have to wait a while for the hot water to reach the faucet.
When waiting I actually catch the water in a bucket, carry it outside and throw it into the lawn.
How many people do that?

 

[MichelleCarmen]

We generally do not have water use limitations this time of year as it''s raining a lot right now. We''ve had them maybe a few times during the summer, but I haven''t really followed the rules.

Where do you live? Can''t you catch rain from your gutters and into a garbage can and use that to help direct the water into your lawn?

FWIW, I do think it''s a waste to wash your driveway. Can''t you rent a pressure washer and do a good cleaning 2X a year?

Oh, and also we do have a hot tub and four people in our household and our water bill is high because of this. I''m not sure about your neighbors, but we''ve had a hot tub in the last 3 out of 4 residences we''ve lived in and we''ve ALWAYS had the tub drained for part of the year. It''s not as if we fill it with fresh water every month. In fact, it''s still empty. I only plan to fill it after Thanksgiving.

 

[kenny]

We are in Southern California where there is virtually no recoverable rain for 9 or 10 months of the year.

It is now PC to have a brown lawn here.
There are a few holdouts who have beautiful green lawns.

Actually people are finding desert cacti and other low-water or no-water uses for their yards.
The paradigm of assuming everyone wants a green lawn is going away.

 

[sparklyheart]

That''s crazy about washing off the driveway and patios.. Our restrictions are mainly for sprinklers.. they aren''t allowed during certain hours but water hoses and soaker hoses are.. Unless of course you just built a billion dollar football stadium..in which case you can water anytime you want for as long as you want..

At my parents house they have certain days you can water.. even vs odd house numbers.. That just seems way too confusing..

 

[tyty333]

Yep, I''m in FL and we have watering restrictions right now. You can water one day a week. Our neighbors seem to
water every day at about 11:00 (when we basically have full sun

). I dont think I''ve ever heard of anyone
getting ticketed though.

 

[yssie]

I know that local homeowners' associations often impose ridiculous strictures like this, but for it to advance to city-level...


Imposing gardening and driveway-washing rules on people is not going to prevent waste, it's just going to annoy people, and the people arrogant enough not to use common sense in the first place are the same people who aren't going to follow these rules anyway.


ETA: I don't think washing your driveway once a month is arrogant. I think watering your lawn at high noon everyday during a draught is both arrogant and idiotic.

 

[packrat]

I''d never heard of such a thing until I lived w/my gramma in Arizona about 11 years ago. Could only wash clothes/water plants etc certain times/days. It''s never been that way here, but we don''t have a big town or anything, with lots of people using the water.

Our City will install an outside water thing, so all you pay is the $80 installation, and then the water used outside isn''t charged the same as inside, so it''s waaaaay cheaper. We''re going to do that this spring b/c I like having our lawn look nice. Plus, with the kids playing in the sprinkler, I don''t want to be like..okay guys, that''s $17 worth of water now, time to stop. Tho, they play in it in the grass, but still.

 

[miraclesrule]

Same here. I just received a letter last week that I have been identified as overirrigating my lawn. WHATEVER!! I have a timer on my sprinker system and it''s a whopping five minutes twice a day. My lawn and my driveway are sloped downward to a significant degree and my lawn sits two week above my concrete wall. I don''t even have the lower sprinkler heads turned out because I haven''t landscaped the area below and in front of my wall. The water drains down the driveway very slightly.

I need to call the city to have a word with them. I DO NOT over irrigate at all. I turn my sprinklers off so they run only every 3 days. There is no way to prevent some of the water from trickling down the driveway due to the slope. I don''t even water my back yard...EVER. I just let that stay dead, dry, or ala natural from the rain...when it rains.

I haven''t been fined...just put on notice. I am sure after I call the city and we discuss my sloping land that they will leave me alone. I am very cautious and would never waste water. Hell, I don''t even shower everyday

 

[kenny]

Date: 11/22/2009 2:39:41 PM
Author: miraclesrule
Same here. I just received a letter last week that I have been identified as overirrigating my lawn. WHATEVER!! I have a timer on my sprinker system and it's a whopping five minutes twice a day. My lawn and my driveway are sloped downward to a significant degree and my lawn sits two week above my concrete wall. I don't even have the lower sprinkler heads turned out because I haven't landscaped the area below and in front of my wall. The water drains down the driveway very slightly.


I need to call the city to have a word with them. I DO NOT over irrigate at all. I turn my sprinklers off so they run only every 3 days. There is no way to prevent some of the water from trickling down the driveway due to the slope. I don't even water my back yard...EVER. I just let that stay dead, dry, or ala natural from the rain...when it rains.


I haven't been fined...just put on notice. I am sure after I call the city and we discuss my sloping land that they will leave me alone. I am very cautious and would never waste water. Hell, I don't even shower everyday

Suggestion.
Set your timer to run less often but longer to encourage deeper root growth.
You actually want the roots near the surface to dry out and die.
After your lawn adjusts to this you can cut back on the overall water since it stays moist longer a few inches underground.
A couple hours before dawn is a good time to water a lawn.
This is too early for cops and nosy neighbors and since the sun will soon come up, it prevents mildew. (Watering at dusk encourages mildew.)

Never water during daylight because much of the water will be lost to evaporation.

 

[lyra]

We have had those limitations in Canada, in different parts of the country, for about 20 years. No biggie. I am pro-environment and don''t find these limitations unreasonable at all. If you don''t have rain all year, where do you think that water you''re using comes from? You''re buying it from somewhere else. We also have water meters here, so you pay for what you use really.

 

[kenny]

Southern California imports water from Northern California, the Colorado river and there are some aquifers.
I do not think desalinizing ocean water has really taken off yet.

Actually water has been a huge factor in the history of the settlement of California, just like the railroads.
Fascinating reading.

 

[miraclesrule]

Kenny, I have read the instruction manual a gazillion times and when I set the timer to water at midnight, I couldn't get it to stop watering at the 5p.m. time. So the result was that it went off 3 times a day so I just shut it off. I run it every few days when I remember to turn it to "run"

It was originaly set by the installer at 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. I was attempting to eliminate the 5 p.m. because I didn't want mildew. When I leave for work between 7-8 a.m., the only evidence of the 6 a.m. watering is the ugly water spots on my car that sits in the driveway. My sprinkler system waters in sections. I think I get good soil penetration..but my controller is so completed.

It has so many settings and variables and a gazilion different timing options, it's like trying to buy a diamond.

I will try to experiment with the system again, but I will probably have to get a professional in to help with this thing. It was a lot less complicated to set the thermostat mechanism at work, which was not at all easy either, than it is for me to master this sprinkler system.

I'll try to set it for 5 a.m. and have it water longer. I have read so many differing opinions on best watering times, but you are in Southern Cal, so I trust your opinion as that is where I am located.

 

[kenny]

I totally relate to the overly complicated timer.
I too have read my manual a few times and the thing still stumps me.

 

[Mara]

honestly i don't think saying you shouldn't be hosing down your driveway in the middle of a drought year is unreasonable.

we have the same thing happening here in N. CA. our rainfall last year was pathetic and even if we get a lot this year we will prob still be on ration next year, we have had too many years of low rainfall.

the city sent out letters saying you should set sprinklers to timers before 8am or after 7pm in the summers and no hosing off driveways or washing of cars in the driveways etc etc, if they see excessive runoff they will fine you etc.

also if you overuse water in your house (aka 40 min showers) you end up paying more for your whole bill. this was our first year in our bungalow house after the townhouse and our TH water bill was always like $30 a month, because we had no yard. well the landscapers set our timers on some crazy 10 min cycle for EACH cycle, so the diff areas of the yards were getting watered for something like an hour total we found in our first 2-3 months. our water bill was $200! we finally got it down to about $60 per month over the summer to find a 'happy medium' with keeping the plants/yard green and still not paying a crazy amt.

the cities in some of these droughty areas are TRYING to make the laws to try to help mitigate the situation in these hard years. in CA this is nothing new...i've lived here all my life and this has happened before. the laws may not be perfect or take every little detail into account but they are trying to make a dent in the obvious ways.

imagine having to ration even moreso and not even being able to water your lawn or grow your flowers in a year or two. instead, i'd rather just sweep my driveway every 2 weeks like we do anyway, and hopefully never make it to that point. just because someone else is breaking the rules, doesn't mean it's ok when what we all do will affect our neighbors around us. that said i used to find hosing off easier too, but now we don't do it.

i've even thought about collecting rainwater this year just for the heck of it to water the plants and flowers with instead of the sprinklers for as long as we can.

 

[kenny]

SDL, why do you even replace the grass every year if you have no intention of watering it?
What do your neighbors do?

BTW I LOVE Sandy Eggo!
It's probably the only place I'd consider living over where we live now.

 

[KimberlyH]

In S.CA as well, and am more bothered by people ignoring the water restrictions than the fact that they are in place. The bottom line is we aren't going to be seeing any more water from N.CA as it has decided protecting the smelt is more important; people who take issue with this should reach out to the gov't to change this, but in the meantime, it's our responsibility to adjust (and part of the choice we made when deciding to live in a desert area). There are lots of beauitful low-water use plants available and one can make their yard look quite nice without having grass.

It makes sense not to water during certain times of the day, and I don't understand the need to water/rinse a driveway either. These things are reasonable and logical, drought or not.

 

[Karl_K]

get a pail and a brush and clean your driveway with under 3 gallons of water.

 

[soocool]

Lucklily we have a well and the only time our township places restrictions on outside watering is when there is a drought. Otherwise, I have drained the bathtub with a hose to water the garden then. There is no way anyone would know how much water we use inside the house.

Plus we also have an in gound sprinkler system and we would run it every other day around 3am. We have 8 zones and each zone would run for 30 minutes so it would finish watering by 7 am. For the past few years it has rained so much we have not had to use it.

 

[somethingshiny]

The town we used to live in had "drought water regulations." During a drought, you could only water your lawn on certain days after 9 pm until midnight. You weren''t supposed to wash driveways or anything. But, when it wasn''t a drought, we could do whatever we wanted with our water.

I don''t think it''s so unfair to limit use during drought conditions, but I would be peeved if I was told what to do on a regular basis.

 

[swimmer]

Live in Israel for awhile, you have no idea how strict water use regulations can be. Then again, have you ever seen a child die from dehydration or villages abandoned because there simply is no more water? Water is a non-renewable resource. link No, I do not think that lawn care is a necessary use of water, North Americans use far more water than we should. I''m with Miracles, showering everyday is overrated.

 

[Deelight]

I live in QLD in Australia water restrictions are nothing new and something that is a way of life, I am surprised you can use a sprinkler we aren''t allowed and I can''t remember the last time I saw someone water their lawn or wash a car better then running out of water really.

Water is a precious resource.

 

[kenny]

Date: 11/22/2009 10:42:49 PM
Author: SanDiegoLady

That''s what''s called a Navy shower.
On a ship you have to save water, so in boot camp we learned to do this.

 

[movie zombie]

as a northern california resident i''m glad to hear there are brown lawns in s. california. too many years water flowed south and not enough conservation was being implemented. no pity re the regulations.

mz

 

[stone-cold11]

I think Colorado is even worse. They can''t even capture and store the rain water that fell on their roof.

 

[ksinger]

Plant bermuda grass. Of course in some locales it is classified as an invasive WEED. But there isn''t much - save deep shade - that will kill it. I''ve seen my lawn dead and brown, and at the first hint of rain, green up within almost hours. I don''t water during the summer, as a rule, although I''ve been known to set soaker hoses around the foundation to keep the clay from pulling away from it and compromising the structural integrity of the house. I''ll fight like the devil for THAT water use, but lawns? GRASS? Not likely.

Xeriscaping IS the way to go in a desert climate. Doesn''t work so well here, because we go from feast to famine too quickly, and not many of the desert plants can deal with the Oklahoma clay, or the toad stranglers. I always get annoyed when I watch gardening shows where they are forking the loose black loamy ground over - saying how easy this is. I''m like, yeah, you master gardeners come HERE and try to do that. Six inches of sorta topsoil on a bed of solid red clay and 105 degree summers as often as not. I dare ya. I double DOG dare ya. I''ve double-dug my last flowerbed I can tell ya.

In any case, whining about water restrictions is not likely to accomplish much. Water is the next big thing, and we''d all better get ready, ''cause it''s only going to get worse.

 

[iluvcarats]

Our water use isn't limited. Between the rain, snow and the Great Lakes we have plenty of that. It's our "sunshine use" that's limited here in western NY. If only we could share.....

 

[hihowareyou]

Date: 11/22/2009 10:26:18 PM
Author: Deelight
I live in QLD in Australia water restrictions are nothing new and something that is a way of life, I am surprised you can use a sprinkler we aren't allowed and I can't remember the last time I saw someone water their lawn or wash a car better then running out of water really.


Water is a precious resource.

I was about to post the same thing.

Until you are being ordered to account for your excessive water usage (my parents were when my younger brother and his football team would use our showers after training), are issued with a 3 minute shower timer by the government and are basically completely banned from watering gardens and washing cars then I don't think there is too much to complain about. Last I heard only the elderly were allowed to water, only with a bucket and only in a tiny interval in the morning or afternoon. Any other outdoor watering or cleaning must be done with either recycled water or tank water.

I do agree that it isn't fair that some people can fill swimming pools or take 20 minute showers twice a day while others are missing out on what makes them happy (a green garden, etc) but at the end of the day water restrictions do promote responsible use of water resources during droughts. What annoys me is that where I live lots of industry uses drinking water and millions of litres are used to test tanks, in manufacturing, etc then washed away. All the pressure seems to be on the residential sector to reduce water consumption when I think there is also a great deal that industry could also be doing.

If you live in Brisbane and have a green lawn then you better hope there is a water tank in your back garden. I'm not sure many/any people have been fined but the neighbours certainly gossip about and frown upon water wasters here.

 

[setell]

Holy crap....remind me not to move to any place with water issues. I don''t think I can live like you guys. I mean I am pro environment so I try to save as much as possible but I like my showers (everyday!) and regular water usage like washing my clothes etc. I guess I am lucky to be in Canada where we got plenty of water and never have had to go on a water restriction/ban ever in my life. Curious but do you guys have those new toilets that use very little water per flush? I love them! Makes me less guilty when I go often during a bad stomach!

You guys remind me of my mom a lot. When I was growing up my mom would have big buckets outside to hold water when it rained (was very embarrassed as a kid as we were the only one doing this). She would then use the rain water to water her garden (she is a huge gardener). I used to think she was just nuts but her rationale was “back home in China we had to walk really far to the well to get water so water is precious and not abundant like it is here”. So she was always dirt cheap with her water consumption.