but doesnt like the majority of the water get recycled. Like, most of the water goes into the drain which in turn goes into the sewer which then ends up back in the water system for re-treatment right? Also, the falls lake reservoir isnt just filled by the rain into it but also by the rain run off into the sewers right? I mean I am not an expert by any means in the way that the city water system works, but isnt the point of a sewer and drain system supposed to bring the nasty water back into the system for treatment and cleaning. And if that is the case, then not as much water is actually wasted if it goes down the drain. I mean obviously some is wasted through the laws of physics but isnt the majority of so called wasted water redirected back into the system to be reused?

1/17/2008 4:17:29 PM

no because that water that is re-ran through the system is not just used for taking showers

its used for everything water is used for within a municipality, and not much of it is going back to the lake anyway...plus not everything can be reused

shit water that evaporates from here will rain down in fuckin new york or some shit


falls lake is refilled by the base water table of its location in the watershed, plus overland runoff, plus subterranean water flow (which also fills the base water table of falls lake)...all that shit is well below average to say the least

im no expert but this is a base understanding of how it works



[Edited on January 17, 2008 at 4:24 PM. Reason : x]

1/17/2008 4:22:02 PM

but isnt our sewers water redirected back into the citie's own system for continued use. why would our sewers and drains direct water back to another city.

1/17/2008 4:23:58 PM

ok say you take a shower everyday and your neighbor waters his lawn everyday

when you shower, water goes through the system yada yada and is available for reuse...when you and your neighbor are showering and watering lawns together, any percentage of that water can be used by your neighbor watering plants or your shower

the difference is the water that is being used to spray the lawn is NOT all going back into the system...it goes straight into the air, into the plants, into ground water, or onto the street and into a sewer, or just puddled up on the street evaporating

water that is being lost into the groundwater and through the air certainly has a chance of going to another municipality or even another state or region depending on the weather and the geography of your location

[Edited on January 17, 2008 at 4:29 PM. Reason : c]

1/17/2008 4:28:00 PM

conserve water and shower with an opposite sex friend

1/17/2008 4:28:53 PM

Right thats my point. Showering, flushing the john etc does not waste that much water because most of it ends up in the system again. The real waste of water is people who stubbornly waste it by watering the lawn or washing cars and stuff like that where it inst directly fed back into the system.

1/17/2008 4:30:56 PM

Quote :

"but isnt our sewers water redirected back into the citie's own system for continued use. why would our sewers and drains direct water back to another city."

I refuse to believe that you think water runs on a loop.

1/17/2008 4:32:14 PM

^^god dammit

there is a net loss of water when your WATER SOURCE IS NOT BEING REPLENISHED LIKE IN THE CONDITION OF A DROUGHT

1/17/2008 4:33:43 PM

Quote :

"I mean I am not an expert by any means in the way that the city water system works"

thus my question, to gain a better understanding

Quote :

"there is a net loss of water when your WATER SOURCE IS NOT BEING REPLENISHED LIKE IN THE CONDITION OF A DROUGHT"

well yeah i know that, all i meant was that some things dont waste as much water as others.

[Edited on January 17, 2008 at 4:35 PM. Reason : .]

1/17/2008 4:34:06 PM

then what is a sewage plant for then? cleaning the water and then dumping it into the grass?

1/17/2008 4:35:19 PM

^^i see your point, but in an emergency (also in general daily life) we would like society to consume less resources, if tis not necessary to take long showers you shouldnt because there is a loss of water

1/17/2008 4:37:52 PM

right on

1/17/2008 4:39:18 PM

You are correct. There is no drought. THE MAN is stashing water away for when the Russians attack.

1/17/2008 4:40:06 PM

1/17/2008 4:42:59 PM

uh i never denied the drought dude

1/17/2008 4:43:27 PM

If you shower then most if it does end up going into the recycling system.
We do lose some through direct evaporation and evaporation of the water in your towel. We also lose some from evaporation in the recycling system.
Reducing the amount of showering you do will save that small percentage of however many gallons you used.

IMO it's a shitty way to conserve water. There are many bigger issues like lawn watering where the majority of the water is evapotranspirated.
Of course, every little bit helps...

1/17/2008 4:47:30 PM

fumbler probably knows more about it than i do

but basically water used for one thing once it goes through the system can be used for something less efficient in the next go round

1/17/2008 4:49:26 PM

The loss is minimal. The major losses from public use are water sprinklers/washing cars/outdoor activities. However, let us not forget that inorder to purify water used in our homes, electric power is needed. To produce electricity, H2O is used by the millions of gallons. This is run off of the rankine cycle where water losses do occur. The less water you use in your house, the less amount of electricity is needed to be generated, the less amount of water used to generate this electricity.

1/17/2008 5:11:20 PM

I forgot to say, like Zom said most of the water we use isn't directly recycled into water that we use for the same purpose. ie sewer water isn't turned into more shower/drinking water at most places.
I don't know what kind of systems we have. Some plants will treat the water enough that it can be put directly back into the system for more people use.
I know the plant in Garner, which handles a large portion of Raleigh's waste water, is treated, but not treated enough to put back into the system.
They have an irrigation system that spreads a lot of it onto forestland where the heavy metals will filter out and the water goes back into the water table.
In these systems (especially during a drought) you can expect only a small part of the water you used in a shower to make it back to the water table because so much of it is evapotranspirated.
They grow big trees

1/17/2008 5:21:52 PM

A lot of our treated water goes into the Neuse. If we returned this water to our own municipal suppy, it would mean less water is returned to the river. We would then have to decrease what we take from Falls Lake because the river has to maintain a minimum flow for environmental reasons and to deliver water to towns downstream.

1/17/2008 6:04:48 PM

all our used water goes downstream

1/17/2008 6:32:23 PM

I think I am dumber after reading this thread....

Quote :

"I award you no points, and may God have mercy upon your soul"

1/17/2008 6:36:04 PM

Quote :

"all our used water goes downstream"

Cary has a gray water system, so some of their water is recycled.

1/17/2008 8:01:54 PM

Quote :

"but isnt our sewers water redirected back into the citie's own system for continued use. why would our sewers and drains direct water back to another city."

no. our treated sewage is released downstream from falls lake. this is generally a good idea so that the remnants of sewage left in the treated water do not build up and concentrate in falls lake.

1/17/2008 8:55:05 PM

^

finally someone answers teh question

1/18/2008 12:05:02 AM

they wasted a lot of water treating the roads for the non-snowstorm we had last night

1/18/2008 5:28:28 AM

putting treated sewage directly back into the drinking water supply is generally a bad idea, e.g. the chicago river

1/18/2008 8:02:41 AM

Quote :

"Cary has a gray water system, so some of their water is recycled."

it is only used for irrigation and cooling purposes in certain areas of the town and for pickup by tank trucks.


http://www.townofcary.org/depts/pwdept/reclaimhome.htm

It's a neat ass process to see in person

[Edited on January 18, 2008 at 10:46 AM. Reason : ]

1/18/2008 10:45:43 AM

Orange County California just did a 200m water treatment facility that treats raw waste water for tap water

Although it seems completely disgusting, it's 99.6% as pure as distilled.

I think this is the way of the future. When humans can turn our shit into drinkable water, we have succeeded.

1/18/2008 11:11:46 AM

for what it's worth, home depot is selling a $9.99 kit that has a replacement showerhead that does 1.5gpm (standard low-flow heads do 2.5gpm), 2 bathroom faucet limiters that do 1.0gpm (standard ones do 2.2gpm), 1 kitchen faucet that does 1.5gpm (standard ones do 2.2gpm as well), and a toilet refill tank limiter (i don't know how this works, or even how to install it)

the showerhead is actually pretty awesome - i like it better than the massaging moen i had on there previously...puts out water with plenty of presssure, and is adjustable (from spray to 3 solid streams)

well worth the money, IMO, but then i might care about this stuff more than the average person

1/18/2008 11:22:03 AM

when i visited the wastewater treatment plant the water that they discharge downstream is of a higher standard than what is required for tap water, it's an amazing process to see what they can do....

1/18/2008 11:44:33 AM

Take a look at what Austrailia's doing these days regarding water - that's going to be in our future sometime soon methinks. Residential greywater use for irrigation, rainwater collection, etc are commonplace.

1/18/2008 12:32:11 PM

we always seem to lag behind in environmental technologies

1/19/2008 11:29:14 AM