Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff
 

This is a thread about water; where it is, how to get it, and what to do with it once you have it. Up for discussion; existential questions like too much water, not enough water, dirty water, and water behaving badly. I personally like water, because it's all wet and stuff, and while it doesn't really taste like anything, I like to drink it sometimes anyway. Also it's p. cool because there is some kind of law that if one thing becomes clean, something else must become dirty. Water is usually involved in that somehow, so it helps keep the place looking great, ya know?

Anyway, if you guys ever want to talk about water, this is the thread for it.

Re: Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff
 

:bigwave::flood::fishbowl::waterskii::diver2: :drowned: :puddle::unwatering:

Re: Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff
 

The small town in Colorado where used to live had the best tasting water I've ever drank. It came from wells in the Dolores River Canyon some 600 ft below the town. Here in Oklahoma, we have lake water, and tastes like wastewater pond water. It's so bad I miss Salt Lake Shitty water.

Re: Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff
 

"Water? I never drink the stuff. Fish fuck in it." W.C. Fields (allegedly)

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Here in South Jersey we have good water, not too hard, not too soft, fairly taste free. Across the river in Philly the water has a strong taste of some kind. On the farm there was an old hand dug well with a hand pump and a spring in a pasture. They were both good water. There was another hand dug well right in front of the barn, but we didn't use it because of possible contamination from livestock. It was a really old barn, more than 200 years, so I guess they didn't care if a little cow poop got in there back then. They probably just used it to water the moo cows and what not anyway. :lol: Now a pump supplies water from the other well to spigots in the barn and chicken house.

The water I get comes from a host of different sources, some of them fairly distant. We get a report about all the details of water quality and sources every year, it just comes in the mail.

Re: Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff
 

I have been seeing a lot of the stuff lately. There's floods all over the place.

But it is also kind of cool. I walk Bella in a park here, which is basically a valley carved out by the river Liffey. One path leads right to the top of the valley, where the wall of the valley is really steep. If you climb to the top you can see flat fields beyond.

My favorite spot is a small dip where the valley wall cuts the water level of the fields, high up. When it has been raining, like it has been lately, you can see the water flow out, and it forms a beautiful little waterfall that has eroded away all the dirt and just left rounded rocks.

There is something magical and mysterious about a place where crystal-clear water comes from the earth and cascades down beautifully rounded rocks.

Re: Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff
 

Thames water overflows during flood barrier closure - ITV News

Seems there was quite a lot of rain over your way last month. I saw where there was high water from within and without at the Thames sea barrier at the same time. That would be a conundrum.

Re: Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff
 

The fact that California is experiencing severe drought conditions has been mentioned quite a bit in the news lately. Less frequently mentioned is that data from analysis of pollen in lake beds and whatnot suggests that for most of the past few thousand years, most of California had a substantially drier climate.

That is, the region has been experiencing unusually high precipitation for the past couple of hundred years, compared to the previous few thousand years. So it appears that, ironically, when California was settled by Europeans, it was experiencing wetter-than-normal climatic conditions. Oops. It may simply be that the drought represents precipitation patterns returning to "normal."

Re: Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff
 

It seems like long term precipitation variability in the American West is a natural feature. Centuries long changes in precip are usually mentioned as factors in the ebb and flo of native populations. If the rise and decline of peoples like the Pueblo or Mississipian really were linked to water availability as a contributing factor, you have to wonder what the carrying capacity really is if whatever switch controls it flips back to off... Other possible cause are always discussed, though.

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President Obama's Laundry List to Help California Drought
You would think he would just use HAARP to make it rain. See, this is why Obama hates freedom. :lol:

Re: Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff
 

Man, Obama is dumb. Georgia figured this shit out years ago.

In Drought-Stricken Georgia, a Prayer for Rain : NPR

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As a kid in So Cal, I was pretty much taught that we lived in a dry Mediterranean climate area and the apparent fertility (orange groves where we were) was 100% due to irrigation. I remember frequent and prolonged droughts with water rationing for landscaping, and little poems about when to flush, and filling a tiny Dixie cup for the entire toothbrushing process. That was 30+ years ago. Did they forget?

Re: Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff
 

I remember empty swimming pools when I was little, and then something happened, I guess, because eventually all the pools had water in them.

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I highly recommend this reading matter with regards to water and the American West:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51aN3VebRwL.jpg

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When it's brown flush it down.
When it's yellow let it mellow.

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When it's amethyst
Call livius

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Iran is having another bout of water problems. They've damned up supply to an inland salt lake and are still having freshwater shortages.

The water threat in Iran - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
The article goes on to show how water inadequacy seems to be a contributing factor in dividing populations in different areas.

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There is a lot of rethinking to be done in water usage. The norm in the US is to use clean, drinkable water to flush toilets for example; it is estimated that's 30-40% of total domestic water use. Grey water reuse, sink-toilet combo re-fits, and rain water capture systems are a good place to start, IMO.

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Save water, shower with a friend.

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I noticed my water bill had the amount used creeping up 1000 gallons per quarter, so fixed a leaky shower and a leaky toilet. The use dropped from 9000 to 7000. The bill rounds off to the nearest the 1000 gallons. It didn't make any difference at all in the amount I had to pay. Apparently there is no incentive to save water in our municipality. At any rate, I was surprised to find that relatively small leaks were wasting in the neighborhood of 600 gallons a month. I visualize it as twelve 50 gallon drums per month.

Re: Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff
 

I believe there are some extraneous zeros in that post.

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Average US per person per day water use is estimated at 80 to 100 gallons. At the 7000 gallons per quarter consumption rate, may wife and I use about half that, 40 gallons a day each. Assuming our consumption fell 2000 gallons/quarter because of fixing the two leaks, it works out to about 10 gallons a day per leak! :eek:

Re: Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff
 

Brazil gets a medium drought with a side of fries flood.

In The Midst Of Its Worst Drought In 50 Years, Brazil Hit By Deadly Flooding | ThinkProgress
Within the last few years I remember both the Delaware and Mississippi rives going from very low to overflowing within a change of seasons.

Brazil is a major exporter of several agricultural products, like orange juice, beef, soy, coffee.

Re: Hydrology: A Thread About Water and Stuff
 

They have an awful lot of coffee in Brazil, so they tell me.

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They say they lag the Netherlands badly in tulips, though.

Country/Agricultural Exports (in billions)
United States $118.3
Netherlands $79
Germany $70.8
France $68
Brazil $55.4