Current Drought in California

[Abraham Arcega]

Hello my name is Abraham and I'm a college student at UCSB and I'm asking my fellow hobbyists about their thoughts on the current drought here in California. It is part of a research project I'm conducting and I would be very interested of getting feedback from anyone in state or all around. Some questions I would like to be answered is it affecting any aspect of your hobby, are you thinking of how much water you use for your aquariums, have you changed your water change routine to conserve water, have you invested in a new RO/DI that is more efficient (produces less water waste), and have you taken any other actions in this current situation? If it is not too much trouble please reply and voice your opinion, please and thank you.

 

[CODE3EMT]

No offense to your experiment, but I personally don't buy the whole drought theory. 75% of the planet is covered in water, so I don't buy into the drought scare. I live in California and our idiot state keeps letting water out of our reservoirs and then they complain about drought when we have a less rainy season. It's all part of the planets natural climate change.... 1 year tons of rain.....next year barely any rain. I take 2 showers a day at an average of 30 minutes each and I remove those annoying 2.5GPM restrictors on all my shower heads. I do water changes very frequently and don't think twice about it when it comes to the well being of my livestock. Google how submarines get their drinking water......this same technology could be applied at a much larger scale in communities where water is scarce, of course it would be billions of dollars but it could be done. California now wants to pipe water out from the DELTA and our local farmers are trying to fight it. Again, I don't mean to sound insensitive but I use all the water I want......I'm not buying into the environmentalist agenda. Sorry, and good luck with your experiment.

 

[billsreef]

You might want to research just what a drought really is, because it certainly isn't anything controlled by politics or environmental agendas. It is a lack of rainfall, and in the case of CA it is a severe lack of rainfall.

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA

 

[Abraham Arcega]

CODE3EMT I take no offense for your opinion at all. I am only gathering information of how my fellow hobbyists feel about this "issue". I too use as much water as I please for my aquariums but still do my part. Thank you for the suggestions and I will take them into consideration.

 

[alton]

I can't comment on the drought in California, but I can comment on the drought in Texas. I use my waste water from my DI to water shrubs in the front yard and trees. I water my St. Augustine Grass and Aloe Vera plants with my water change water from my aquariums. I have been doing that for 23 years and my grass looks good great. Except for my 300, I use glass tops to slow down evaporation rates in my tanks using less top off water.

 

[EnderTurtle]

Hi. 25.Male.San Mateo.

In choosing my first rodi unit i chose the 150gpd watersaver specifically because i did not like the 4:1 waste water ratio of most rodi units. I have been in the reefkeepinghobby for 1 year.

I try to use the waste water in anyway i can, watering plants, cleaning dishes, flushing the toilet. I also only shower 2 times a week. It sounds gross but i omit close to zero body odor and i work an easy job in an office. I have a low tier white collar government job related to habitat conservation.

Good luck with your research and future endeavors.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I can't say that my Fish Tank routine would be different than if there was no drought, but currently I use my R/O waste water to water my lawn and other yard plants. It's definitely a PITA to collect and redistribute. I just use 5g buckets.

If I had a larger tank I'd look into some type of reservoir to pipe the waste water into and then figure out how to plumb it into my irrigation. But I only have an 80g, so my current routine works.

There was a good 60 Minutes recently on the drought and talking about how it's not just a California problem but worldwide. Farmers have been depleting the ground water by drilling more and more wells that can't be replenished for decades. Scary stuff!

 

[DivingTheWorld]

i omit close to zero body odor

Have you confirmed this with your co-workers? :lmao:

 

[AirForceAquariu]

Well... CA's drought is quite interesting. Most of southern CA shouldn't exist, as was predicted and described in the 1800's by several scientists. The water shed and rivers of Southern CA and the southwest in general can't support a city like LA or Las Vegas (I know it's in Nevada, but same concept). I am from CO and CA owns most of the water rights the far side of the continental divide.

Did you know it's illegal to collect rainwater in CO because CA has rights to it? How ridiculous is that. If CA wasn't such a populous and rich state that would never stand.

 

[woodnaquanut]

Hello my name is Abraham and I'm a college student at UCSB and I'm asking my fellow hobbyists about their thoughts on the current drought here in California. It is part of a research project I'm conducting and I would be very interested of getting feedback from anyone in state or all around. Some questions I would like to be answered is it affecting any aspect of your hobby, are you thinking of how much water you use for your aquariums, have you changed your water change routine to conserve water, have you invested in a new RO/DI that is more efficient (produces less water waste), and have you taken any other actions in this current situation? If it is not too much trouble please reply and voice your opinion, please and thank you.

Attempting to stay on subject somewhat more than some other replies... :crazy1:

All my RO/DI waste water goes into the pond. We're considering capturing rainwater for the pond. Flushing less too.

At this point I haven't changed my WC habits. This will be reevaluated soon. We are only at 35% normal rainfall so far. :angryfire:

 

[alton]

I can't say that my Fish Tank routine would be different than if there was no drought, but currently I use my R/O waste water to water my lawn and other yard plants. It's definitely a PITA to collect and redistribute. I just use 5g buckets.

If I had a larger tank I'd look into some type of reservoir to pipe the waste water into and then figure out how to plumb it into my irrigation. But I only have an 80g, so my current routine works.

There was a good 60 Minutes recently on the drought and talking about how it's not just a California problem but worldwide. Farmers have been depleting the ground water by drilling more and more wells that can't be replenished for decades. Scary stuff!

Darn Farmers I wish they would quit growing all that food. Only grocery stores should be able to produce food.
Let me know how it is to not eat? It is called population control, start at closing the border, start taxing people for more than 2 kids, if you collect welfare you can only get help for 2. We now have plenty of oil, just not enough water. And please do not mention desalination! We are already running into issues with not having enough fresh water running into our oceans estuaries.

 

[Timfish]

Living in central Texas the summer of 2011 after noticing how badly the lack of rain was affecting my trees it was obvious they would need watering and they now get a lot more water than my tanks do.