S.O.P. Water Shortage

[Rook]

What is an appropriate response to a water shortage? Water shortage would be defined, in the context of this discussion, as more consumption of water than our water resources is producing forcing the country to use water stores beyond their normal capacity. Extended periods of shortage would threaten to deplete water storage.

Is a preventative approach the correct one? Do we make a poinnt to design infrastructure that can accommodate a larger water reserve so that no drought or population boom threatens to leave anyone without water before natural water resources begin to recuperate.

Should water use be reserved for agriculture? To maintain the water for agricultural use how should residential use of water be regulated, through incentive for low use, punishment for over use or forced restrictions and rationing?

Should water be diverted from agriculture and reserved for residential use, importing more food as necessary.

[Mira O'Halloran]

Importing food lowers vitamin and nutrient quality once it reaches your kitchen.

Residential use isn't as big as you might think - over here, businesses use most of our water.

A neat trick to cut down on water use - divert the run off from the laundry, shower, kitchen and bath into a bore water tank. Then re pump that water back into the house to power the toilet. the rest of the bore water can be used on agriculture. (Why some one hasn't thought of this yet, i'll never know.)

Encouraging to reduce works better then trying to enforce laws.

[Rook]

I know many self sufficient homes use their gray water for things like the toilet and some water their garden with it, but as I understand the problem with doing that on a national level has to do with harmful chemicals in mass produces products. The bore water system would require the use of natural detergents and cosmetic products in your wash and shower? Sure soap made from tallow and wood ash isn't harmful at all to plants, but dump some Tide on them and you're going to kill the flowers. I believe more regional infrastructure would maintain recirculation if the cost of making the water useful wasn't so high.

The alternative is of course simply to not allow harmful detergents to be sold or utilized in Uantirian homes. Then instead of having to design internal systems that need to be maintained by the individual of the home they could be pumped back into a regional recirculation system. Houses would have to be pumped slightly differently, with hose water and toilet water running different systems than the fresh water, and education about the harmful effects of drinking blore water increased, it's another viable option for the list.

[Mira O'Halloran]

None of the houses I have the water hooked up to work that way - Most people have to do it by bucket.

Yes, Natural products for water use, or use a filter. I use natural products because it's better for me, but it also suits the environment.

[Rook]

Almost no housed made in developments have such systems. People who design their home for homesteading or living 'off the grid' so to speak have their houses either built or retrofitted that way.

But that doesn't mean a revolutionized infrastructure can't be put in place for us.

[Mira O'Halloran]

It's kinda funny when you think about - the governments are going on about how we're in trouble with the environment, but they won't do a thing to change the current systems which don't help the environment.

I'm all for a revolutionized infrastructure for us.

[Rook]

All right, so anyone else like to weigh in? So far we're heading in the direction of proactive prevention.

But if even that doesn't work and the water's getting scarce?

[Mira O'Halloran]

Then buy an amazingly awesome filter (reverse osmosis) and filter the waste, storm water run off, any water source availible, and stop all reserves and lawns from being watered, no car washes, and the only part of the car you're allowed to wash are the windows and mirrors. Any thing I missed there?

[Rook]

How do you enforce that? How do you compensate car wash businesses that are effectively rendered redundant?

[Mira O'Halloran]

Attach ridiculous fines and fees, based on income. A water shortage is a real threat.

A lot of car wash businesses have branched out here - they have stores with all sorts of stuff, and you wash your own car, there's also a car vacuuming service available. I've only ever been to a car wash once, so i'm struggling to remember.

[Rook]

Well should there be a 'welfare for businesses' type plan to help certain businesses survive (if not make profit) until the end of the drought, or should we maintain a 'survival of the fittest' approach so that only those businesses with large water consumption survive if they've properly diversified in advance? The crux of that issue is, how much government presence should there be in the business sphere?

I personally think that the government should exist for the welfare of the people, creating safe situations where everyone can live as peacefully as possible. So I lean towards a hands off approach when it comes to business, the government should only intervene in the issues of safety and public health and well being.

[Mira O'Halloran]

I don't know... It's a good point, but at the same time, businesses should be able to work and thrive regardless of what's going on - supply for the need, and not rely on govt. hand outs.
What about the people who have no money as a result of no income? What happens to them?

[Rook]

Unfortunately, we ahve yet to reach a status where we an truly save everyone. All those who work in the medical field have to comes to terms with that. As a government we need to create an environment where people can live safely, comfortably and with the freedom to be who they are...but there's no way for us to create a system that will protect everyone from everything. Sometimes people will die, no matter how we help them. We just need to create a framework to make it the easiest to survive.

For instance, no one is going to live if we don't make sure the majority of water reserves get to farmland. Businesses like car washes who use a large amount of water would be out of luck, there would be nothing that we could do for them. But if the owner of that business, as a result of its demise, needed some drinking water I believe there should be a rationing service in place to make sure people have access to some water, even if it's not a lot. Since we can't do everything at once diverting our resources to giving the citizens as much chance of survival as possible is our number one priority, not businesses and not front lawns.

Which leads me to another idea. The problem with fees and penalties for using excess water is that the water is still getting used. In a true drought that is threatening lives and crops, no matter how big the fine, someone still used the water and the water is still gone. Instead of taxing or fining people who use water in unauthorized fashions, which simply punishes everyone because that water has been used, since we're already designing innovative water infrastructure with regards to gray water re-circulation, why not take it a step further? Sprinklers on lawns and garden hoses would be piped to a different network than the toilet or kitchen sink and things that contain drinking water. Then, if such an emergency does occur, those systems, like sprinklers and garden hoses (which if you think about it should be using that gray water system and should already be re-piped differently) could simply be shut off. No wasted use of water. Yes there would still be water in the sink an the shower and yes, someone could fill up their bathtub and water the lawn pitcher by pitcher...but who would really do that? If no one watered their lawns or ran their ponds it would free up a considerable amount of water, to the point where showers and drinking water wouldn't be as strong an impact on the reserve.

[Gelare]

What about the people who have no money as a result of no income? What happens to them?

This is an important question, and a point of the bitterest contention among people for thousands of years. It is, however, somewhat out of the scope of how to deal with water shortages.

The question of what to do in the case of a disaster of any kind is a difficult one. In a water shortage, obviously the health of the population is of primary concern to the government. However, it's also of primary concern to the people. Let's assume for a second that water usage is determined by pricing normally; that is, water costs, say, a quarter per gallon (note: I have no idea what water prices actually are at present), and car washes use, I don't know, twenty gallons of water, so they cost five bucks.

Then the price of water doubles, to 50 cents per gallon. People can live with waiting an extra week or two between car washes, but they can't live without hydrating themselves, so they move their spending away from car washes and toward drinking water. Car washes lose business (bad for them, but in all fairness, when you enter an industry heavily dependent on the price of water, you're accepting the risk for that volatility) and people stay alive, which, given that there's a water shortage, is basically as much as we can hope for, and no government intervention required.

There are a number of refinements one could consider making, like instituting a graduated price for water; so the first x someone uses is 25 cents per gallon, the next y is 50 cents per gallon, and so on, to discourage usage of water beyond simple hydration. But among the most important economic lessons to learn is the law of unintended consequences: in this case, the government would need to spend money on monitoring and enforcement and squelching the black markets that spring up between people who don't drink much and the business that are water-intensive. Possibly worth it, but probably not.

[Rook]

The complicated solution is just that, complicated. I do like the simple approach of simply increasing the price of water to the point where it's ruinous to use it in any way but wisely. That's a good way to handle water shortage...but what about water crisis?

What steps should be taken when it gets worse than that and, even just for consumption (taking into account everyone is being responsible and no water is being used for anything but drinking and cooking, even bathing) the amount of water available is less than necessary consumption?