aichtooh

AICHTOOH
thats the phonetic spelling of h2o
or for those nonchemistry folks thats
water

cactus bloom

in the last two weeks we got about 3 inches of rain
and
for those who collect and especially those of us
who rely on rainwater for our water system
that rain came at an important time
as
we head into our driest time of the year
without that rain the country n owners were looking
at possibly buying water which i hate to do

another type of cactus with flower

now i know most of you buy your own water
but
when you have it delivered in a water truck
you pay $300+ for 3000 gallons

the average homeowner in austin texas uses 7,727
gallons a month

we at the country n use about 1500 gallons a month

if it was delivered that would cost them $0.1 a gallon
so their bill would be $772.70

um maybe that would be a way to curb some of the water
use by raising the cost

plant salvaged from destruction from westwood high school

so i got about 1800 gallons per inch x 3 inches =5400 gallons
of water from that rain
thats $540 if i had bought it

the average homeowner in austin would have sucked that up
and out the drain in about 20+- days

native wildflower firewheel

what made me think about all this
is
austin is about to hit a water crisis soon
they are conserving water fairly well but could do better
this conservation has made the price of water climb
since less water is bought
less money in coming into the city
they have fixed water costs that arent being met well

i say raise the prices
let the market control the water use
not sure if that works well though

salvia greggi or autumn sage

i was at a friends house last night looking at his landscape
he is on the austin water system
he can only water the yard and landscape once a week
it still looks pretty lush
thanks i guess to the weekly watering and the recent rains

he has landscaped away a lot of his grass
and more is planned

he rocked that no mans land between the sidewalk and the
curb which covers half the length and width of his lot
he is on a corner lot

the other no mans land at one side of his house where
no one ever goes
you know most home owners have this spot
he is covering it with black plastic and rocks so he can stop
watering it and mowing it and fertilizing it and deweeding it etc

zexmenia

then i looked at all his landscape
he and the person that helped him choose his plants
did a good job
they are mostly xeric natives
and are in the grow green pamplet from the city of austin 

i reminded him which he didnt know that he could get some
reimbursements and credits on his water bill from all the
landscaping he had done
several hundreds of dollars

now i have the same plants he has minus a few that tend to
not do as well here
like indian hawthorne magnolia tree etc

crossvine

he waters his plants
yes they look good
but so do mine
in fact they look the same

my water use on my landscape is zero
his well he is an average austin homeowner

he could cut off the drippers to all of his landscape
and only water them during all the real dry times
or
not at all
he would have to accept some browning of some
of the plants when it gets real dry
but
these xeric native plants dont die

thistle

i have a solution
only xeric natives can be planted
no supplemental irrigation is allowed
unless
its provided from rainwater collected off the roof
a requirement that should be made when homes are
built in this area

heck what if all those big mansion high schools that they
build around here were equipped with rainwater collection
systems to collect water for irrigation and flushing toilets

you know we are paying for them and we are paying their
water bills

eventually the added expense will pay for itself over time
either at home or at school

but
i guess nothing like this will happen until its too late
thats what we always seem to do here in america
crisis management

(note these pictures are a few of the flowering plants i have
planted in our yard at the country n
zero nadda no water has been used on these plants)

well here at the country n
we are well ahead of the curve

the only problem is
i may have to buy new fencing to keep people out
i may have to buy guns to protect my water supply
i may have to get another mean guard dog

sure hope it doesnt come to that
we all could just practice conservation
and
collect rainwater

the organicgreen doctor