Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Drought Impacting New Mexico Early


Here it is January 31st and water restrictions have already been put in place in Las Vegas, New Mexico. That seems unheard of, but then again we have already had fires in the southwest, in DECEMBER!

I am originally from Michigan and we had seasons, like deer season, or duck season, not FIRE season. According to the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico has only received 11% of its usual precipitation for the last two months of 2005. The early part of 2005 saw lots of snow and rain but right now our snow pack is very low and cities like Las Vegas that depend on snow pack to feed their water sheds are having to restrict water use.

The first violation is just a warning, strike two and you can get a fine up to $150, strike three and they turn off your water. You can't be trusted to use the water wisely. Sounds reasonable to me.... perhaps a rain barrel or two from Arid Solutions Inc. would be good for when it does rain or to save some household greywater...just a thought.





posted by Water Saver @ 7:41 PM   2 comments

2 Comments:

At 2:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I live in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and was beginning to despair of my ever growing a garden due to the water shortage. Rainwater storage is a good idea but if it ain't raining in the first place, it is not a stand-alone solution.

I found out that a residential washing machine typically uses 30 gallons of water per load. So now, I am in the process of re-plumbing my washer into a greywater system. The system features a 3 way diverter valve so I can route the water into the sewer line as New Mexico code requires, a surge barrel (55 gallon drum,) and a submersible pump (my garden is uphill from my house.) I also plan on growing tepary beans (a drought resistant, indigenous bean dry-farmed by the Tohono-O'odham in the Sonoran desert and Sahuarita corn, an heirloom variety dry-farmed near Sahuarita, Arizona.

The challenge with the Washing machine greywater will be to find a detergent which is biodegradable, non-toxic and contains no boron or salts

 
At 2:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I live in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and was beginning to despair of my ever growing a garden due to the water shortage. Rainwater storage is a good idea but if it ain't raining in the first place, it is not a stand-alone solution.

I found out that a residential washing machine typically uses 30 gallons of water per load. So now, I am in the process of re-plumbing my washer into a greywater system. The system features a 3 way diverter valve so I can route the water into the sewer line as New Mexico code requires, a surge barrel (55 gallon drum,) and a submersible pump (my garden is uphill from my house.) I also plan on growing tepary beans (a drought resistant, indigenous bean dry-farmed by the Tohono-O'odham in the Sonoran desert and Sahuarita corn, an heirloom variety dry-farmed near Sahuarita, Arizona.

The challenge with the Washing machine greywater will be to find a detergent which is biodegradable, non-toxic and contains no boron or salts

 

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