The Strangest Advertising for a water saving toilet you will ever see: Numi by Kohler

I'm quite comfortable talking about toilets.  Talking about Joseph Jenkins and humanure doesn't phase me.  I have talked plenty about our Toto with its soft close seat.  I've even investigated the after market bidet converters like the Tushy Clean that turn an ordinary commode into a bidet.  I am perfectly willing to advocate for the toilet tank sink.

But, the advertising for the $6,000 Numi toilet from Kohler suggests that the fashionable elite will install them in their glass walled high rise living rooms. I suppose that when the fashionable couple is in need they will just drop trousers and get down to the necessaries without having to miss their view of the city.  Even for me, that is just too much.

Follow the link.  If they haven't removed it yet you'll find the pictures to which I refer under the "home" tab.   I'm sure they will have to take it down some day so if you are reading this in 2012 try this link to a design blog.

Where in the world is the USA? Collected statistics related to the environment compare the USA to other nations.

Often in the midst of conversation, Lee Moore will throw out a cogent statistic or two related to the subject at hand. While some folks make up such statistics, Lee's interests have led him to compile reliable statistics on a wide range of subjects. Here are a number of lists largely related to environmental concerns from his personal collection.


Gasoline Prices: USD per gallon (2005)
Norway 6.2
Britain 6.0
Germany 6.0
Italy 5.9
France 5.7
Poland 5.0
Japan 4.4
Australia 3.7
USA 2.4
(Raw cost is everywhere $2/gal; the difference is tax to discourage consumption and fund mass transit.)

Gasoline Consumption : Gallons per person per year (1997)
USA 459
Germany 140
Japan 113
(Germany is the second largest consumer worldwide, so the USA really stands out.)

Fuel Economy : avg passenger vehicle mpg and average engine size (2005)
Japan 48 mpg
Europe 41 mpg 1.6 (avg engine size in liters)
Australia 32 mpg
Canada 28 mpg
USA 24 mpg 3.4 (avg engine size in liters)

Oil Consumption : barrels per person per year (1999)
USA 25
Japan 16
Europe  14
Latin Amer 4

Oil Reserves
Billions of barrels (2005)  and years remaining at current extraction rates. New fields will of course be found.
Saudi Arabia 260 billion barrels, 66 years at current rate
Iran 140 billion barrels, 93 years at current rate
Iraq 115 billion barrels, 100 years at current rate
Kuwait 100 billion barrels,100 years at current rate
UAE 100 billion barrels, 97 years at current rate
Venezuela 80 billion barrels, 73 years at current rate
Russia 75 billion barrels, 21 years at current rate
Kazakhstan 40 billion barrels, 80 years at current rate
Libya 40 billion barrels, 63 years at current rate
Nigeria 40 billion barrels, 38 years at current rate
USA 35 billion barrels, 12 years at current rate
Canada 20 billion barrels, 15 years at current rate
China 20 billion barrels, 12 years at current rate
Mexico 15 billion barrels, 10 years at current rate

Water Consumption: Cubic meters per person, includes agriculture (2002)
USA 1690
Canada 1430
Australia 940
Japan 720
Germany 710
France 700
Britain 200

CO2 Emissions : Tonnes per person (2002)
USA 20
Singapore 14
Czech Rep. 10
Russia 10
Japan 9
Poland 8
Hungary 6
Mexico 4
China 3
India 1.5

Organic Farmland: % agricultural land certified organic (2004)
Switzerland 10.3
Austria 9.8
Finland 7.1
Italy 7.0
Denmark 6.2
Sweden 6.0
Britain 4.2
Germany 4.1
Australia 2.6
Spain 2.5
Canada 0.9
Japan 0.7
USA 0.2

Environmental Taxes: Taxes on energy use, big cars, etc -- as % of total taxes. (2005)
Denmark 9.5
Holland 9.5
Germany 7.0
Britain 7.0
Japan 6.0
Poland 6.0
Spain 5.5
France 5.0
Canada 3.5
USA 3.0
(As total taxes are lowest in the USA, the actual environmental taxes are very low.)

Miscellaneous  Facts

• In 2000 the Total National Energy Use in average BTUs per person per day was 48 in Europe and 368 in the USA.
• The average American generates over 1600 pounds of garbage per year, more than twice that of the average European.
• The average American consumes nearly 750 pounds of paper per year, by far the most in the world.
• If the world's 6 billion people consumed like the average American, we would need at least 4 more planets to supply the resources and absorb the wastes.
• In 2003 the average American consumed 53 times more resources than a Chinese, and 35 times more than an Indian.
• American use of oil:  66% to all transportation, 40% to auto/truck gasoline.

Sources ‒ OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), US Census Bureau, Office of Economic Development, US Energy Information Adm., US Dept of Health, Justice Policy Institute, Standard and  Poor's, UNICEF, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, National Center for Education Statistics, Eurostat

Some concerned that new South Texas Oil Boom (with Fracking) may destroy our water supply.

Will the Eagle Ford Shale oil boom destroy our underground water supply?

Read all about it in the San Antonio Current Sinking feelings: Gas fracking may already be lowering water tables in South Texas

"Put the Grease in the Bin" : a message for Londoners that applies to San Antonians equally if not more

San Antonio Water System is wrestling with EPA over sewage spills.  The current SAWS "Don't feed the grease monster" campaign is part of an effort to control sewage spills.  When the fat congeals it clogs the pipes.  When the pipes get clogged, they overflow.  This is a problem where ever there are sewers.

In San Antonio Water Systems and the EPA are negotiating on a solution to all too frequent sewer discharges into area rivers and streams.  Grease diversion is believed to play a major role in preventing sewer overflows.

If you care enough about the environment to not litter and to recycle then add diverting grease to your list.

The video below features London sewer workers on location with a message in song concerning keeping the fat out of the drain.

Want to feel good about San Antonio progress on sustainable issues? Michael Burke of the San Antonio Clean Tech Forum offers up these encouraging points to consider.

Michael Burke of the San Antonio Clean Tech Forum recently offered this list of interesting signs of sustainability in San Antonio. His list is upbeat, positive and comprehensive.   He gave his kind permission to republish his message here.  He entitled his email "San Antonio, We are not in Kansas anymore".   Be sure to click on the links to learn more about the companies, institutions and products mentioned.  They will amaze.

"San Antonio, We are not in Kansas anymore"

In recent travels to Austin and Houston, I heard numerous comments along the lines, “Wow, I understand San Antonio is on a roll and building significant momentum in the area of Clean Tech and Sustainability.”  So I have decided to prepare a summary list to explain just why they would say that. Here is version one, with much more to come in future weeks.


TWO INCREDIBLY NEW INITIATIVES THAT HAVE HUGE IMPLICATIONS

·The establishment of the UTSA- Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute headed by Les Shephard of the Sandia National Labs is huge. And now with the announcement of $50 million of funding from CPS Energy we are positioned as a potential national leader in clean technology research.

·The decision of Mir Imran (Thomas Edison II and CEO of InCube Ventures) to establish a major presence in our community backed by a new San Antonio $100 million venture fund is also huge. Yes, most of the work will focus on bio-med and medical products, but Mir also has a very strong interest in Clean Technology.


 A PUBLIC POWER UTILITY THAT STANDS TALL in the NATION

·Hiring Doyle Beneby, a highly qualified CEO at CPS Energy to lead a major transformation of our public power utility sets the stage for continued progressive leadership for our community.  And we have one of the few public power utilities in the nation with a Chief Sustainability Officer – Cris Eugster.


·Wind Power - Electricity generated from the West Texas plains and Texas coastal wind farms makes CPS Energy the largest publicly owned purchaser of wind power in the country. – 710 Megawatts


·Solar – In April 2010,  CPS Energy announced the development of the largest solar pv farm in Texas – The Blue Wing Solar Project. A 14 Megawatt installation of Duke Energy and  Juwi Solar Inc.  A few weeks ago they announced an agreement to partner with Sun Edison for 30 megawatts of solar power. The project also offers the possibility of opening a regional office in San Antonio, collaborating with CPS' research partners on solar research and development, and opening an education center at one of the installations.

·CPS Energy’s STEP program will provide $850 million in funding for energy efficiency projects over the next ten years.


·CPS Energy recently launched one of the first solar feed-in tariff programs in the nation.


·San Antonio enjoys the lowest cost of electric power of the 20 largest cities in the nation


A PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM that also Stands Tall in the Nation

·The San Antonio Water System has been recognized for developing one of the most effective water conservation initiatives in the nation.

·SAWS has constructed the nation’s largest direct recycled water system which to date has reused almost 12 billion gallons of “waste water.”

·Earlier this year, SAWS was recognized with a 2010 Ethics in Business Award presented by The Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health and the UTSA College of Business.

·SAWS is the first large wastewater utility to partner with a private sector company, Ameresco, to actively sell biogas (produced from sewage) in the United States. SAWS ratepayers will receive a royalty on the sale of the gas, estimated at $200,000 a year.


IMPRESSIVE PUBLIC, PRIVATE REGIONAL INITIATIVES

·Mission Verde Center at Cooper Middle School, in the heart of San Antonio, is a revolutionary model to achieve national sustainability goals through Economic Stimulus and green jobs creation; Training/Education and workforce development and sustainability education; and Demonstration/ Validation of energy and water insertion.

·The process of the San Antonio partnership with the Texas A&M university system , UT Austin, UTSA, and SWRI in response to a federal grant of $130 million to demonstrate energy efficiency advancements in homes set the stage for future beneficial collaborations.  We may not win the grant, but the process has been very productive and positive.


INITIATIVES to ADVANCE the SA GREEN ECONOMY

Mayor Julian Castro’s Green Jobs Leadership Council, chaired by Larry Zinn, has transitioned into the Mission Verde Foundation initiative. This future non-profit will focus on developing a green economy in San Antonio.


IMPRESSIVE ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPANIES

We will feature many in the future, but for now San Antonio’s Cinco Solar stands out. They have constructed the two largest solar hot water installations in the nation: at the Army Residence Community (ARC) in San Antonio and at the Bexar County jail.


K-12 EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

·James Madison High School Agriscience Magnet offering has long been a model for urban agricultural education and is one of the largest and most active agricultural programs in Texas.  But their new $23.5 million facility is over the top.  I doubt that there is a more impressive sustainability
initiative of any high school in Texas, if not the nation.


A YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR WORTH FOLLOWING

·At 21 years old, UTSA alumnus David A. Gonzales II, UTSA graduate 2008, already has a superb resume to offer to prospective employers. The young inventor was awarded ConocoPhillips' first Energy Prize in October for his Layered Mag Wheel,a revolutionary invention with applications in the auto and wind and industry. Established to recognize and foster creative solutions to the U.S. energy crisis, the ConocoPhillips competition was punctuated by a $100,000 grand prize. David has decided to advance his innovations while living in San Antonio.  You will be hearing much from this young man in the future.


OTHERS

·There is so much more to share with you, and I will do so in the near future.

·Great things are going on at USAA, SWRI, HEB, Valero, Port SA, Rackspace,  the Military Joint Base Operations, and many others.

·A number of impressive Clean Tech start-ups have emerged in San Antonio in the past six months.

·The San Antonio Chamber, the Hispanic Chamber, and the North Chamber have all established Sustainability committees this year.

·And we are most fortunate that our media: SA Express News, SA Business Journal, KLRN –PBS, and Texas Public Radio are doing an excellent job of advancing Sustainability issues. 

Can you learn to love the rod on your faucet that saves water?

All over the net you can read the claim that 80% of water used to wash hands, brush teeth and shave goes down the drain.   While the amount wasted this way is dwarfed by the amount wasted on carpet grass, the amount is significant enough that restrooms in commercial facilities all over our region use automatic sensor faucets.

These automatic faucets require power and a change in fixtures.  The fixtures can cost hundreds of dollars. But there is a mechanical alternative for less than $20 per faucet.   The Smart Faucet and  Automatic Faucet Control feature a replacement for the screw in aerator which all modern US faucets have.   A rod extends from the replacement aerator.  The valves on the faucet are set open.   When the rod on the aerator is pushed, water is released.  When pressure on the rod is removed the water stops.

While the devices look unusual and have not been designed with beauty in mind, the low cost and water savings may let you learn to love them.   In addition to saving water the devices prevent cross contamination and make it faster and easier to wash up. It also benefits those with grasping, twisting, turning and gripping difficulties. Because the devices allow the faucet valves to be left in an on position the sellers claim that the faucet valves will last longer.

The new international hit: "The Story of Bottled Water" disects the actions of the water pushers

The makers of "The Story of Stuff" are back with an entertaining analysis of the forces selling us bottled water. You can watch it below or even better go to the storyofstuff.org website.



More than one writer has connected The Story of Bottled Water to Chris Jordan's mind blowing depiction of the two million plastic beverage bottles consumed in the USA every five minutes in his "Running the Numbers" project.

Wayne Haese of San Antonio's Grayscaping Inc to speak at March meeting of San Antonio Sustainable Living

Are you the kind of person who maybe goes to two or three San Antonio Sustainable Living meetings a year? You really ought to be coming to these meetings more often since the price of admission cannot be beat (FREE!). However, if you are particular about what topics are worth your time, this is one of those topics - WATER. Oh sure, you've been to water presentations at the San Antonio Sustainable Living before, and yes, they've been very informative and innovative. Still, we only have about one presentation per year on water issues (I keep track of these things), so you can't say this is all we talk about. This Tuesday's presentation is, trust me, the most important and encompassing water presentation we will have for a long time.

We are more familiar with water source issues. We are at the center of rainwater harvesting activity in the country. We are familiar with the excellent guidelines and programs offered by the San Antonio Water System regarding water efficiency and sensible landscaping. Build San Antonio Green has promoted wise water use for many years in their family of programs. But very little attention has been given to graywater systems. Graywater systems, in brief, makes the most out of water by making it work for you more than once. Very few have addressed this category of water efficiency.

Wayne Haese has been developing water use systems for many years and is a multiple award winner from the San Antonio Water System. I've been looking at a lot of water systems, and Wayne Haese's GrayScaping System is the most comprehensive, but simply elegant use of graywater I've seen. He has designed systems from individual houses to entire housing developments incorporating graywater recycling systems with rainwater recovery augmentation, and has also developed proprietary systems he calls RainPonics, GrayPonics, TreeScaping, FireScaping, and more. For additional information, visit his website. But by all means, do not miss next week's meeting in the classroom inside Whole Foods Market in the Quarry at 7pm.

Do you want to use grey water for irrigation in San Antonio? Here is an interpretation of the code (with other useful links)

Gray Water is a fantastic way to provide some water for thirsty plants. The good news is that it is legal in San Antonio. Roderick Sanchez, Director of the City of San Antonio Planning and Development Services Department provided an interpretation of the city rules governing residential gray water dated April 20, 2009. I've included a link to a pdf of the interpretation, but for convenience have transcribed the document below:

Interpretation Number: CI2009-002 April 20, 2009

Title: Grey Water Provisions on Residential Applications.

Code/Edition: 2006 Uniform Plumbing Code as amended by COSA

Purpose: To clarify the acceptable provisions regarding the use of grey water on residential applications.

Question: Can I discharge the gray water from a residential washing machine directly onto the ground surface on the exterior of a residence?

Answer: Yes, Gray water may be discharged directly onto the ground surface on the exterior of a residence under the following conditions:

Limited to single family dwellings only.

Irrigated areas must be in a fenced-in area and in control of the occupant of that residence. The area must be limited use and access by residents, pets and foot traffic.

Cannot be used during times of rain.

Irrigation must not create a public health nuisance such as surface ponding.

The irrigated area must support plant growth such as grass, bushes, or be overlaid with a vegetative cover.

The discharge point of the hose shall be kept a minimum of 10 ft from the property lines.

The Director of the Health Department may suspend this practice if he determines that it creates a negative impact on the community health.

Roderick Sanchez, AICP, CBO,
Director and Building Official
Planning and Development Services Department

Joe Barfield provided the above document and link to us. He also included the following resources for anyone considering a gray water system:

Mayor Castro and City Council informed of extraordinary number of accepted contentions against the licensing of the South Texas Nuclear Project expansion

As a group, San Antonio Sustainable Living does not take a position on the expansion of the South Texas Nuclear Project or any other issue.  The letter below was provided by Karen Hadden of the SEED Coalition:

Dear Mayor Castro and San Antonio City Council Members,

I thought the following information regarding the status of interventions in the South Texas Project licensing process might be helpful to you as you make decisions regarding the future energy path for San Antonio.

Our legal case is strong. We already have five accepted contentions, and may have more coming. We don’t know of any other proposed reactor in the country that has more than two accepted contentions. The many serious health and safety issues must be resolved before an NRC construction and operating license (COL) can be issued.

The five contentions were accepted by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, through the NRC. Hearings will be held after the NRC finalizes the Environmental Impact Statement, and are expected in 2011. The accepted contentions are listed below. They include the co-location impacts, such as how an accident at one unit would impact the others. The other four contentions are water related, involving radionuclides in the Main Cooling Reservoir, increasing groundwater tritium concentrations, seepage of the Main Cooling Reservoir and excess withdrawal of groundwater.

Additional contentions could still be accepted from among the 7 Fires and Explosions/ Aircraft impact contentions that were discussed on Nov. 13th in Rockville, Maryland.

If you would like to read the full original contentions they are posted at http://www.nukefreetexas.org/downloads/petition_to_intervene_STP.pdf
Also attached are our original fires and explosions contention and the NEI guidance on aircraft impact. These are materials available to the public, and we hope that much of the information that was part of this hearing will also be made public, as whole documents have been classified as sensitive based on a single word or sentence. Small portions could be redacted, and this important safety information could be made publicly available. We have submitted a filing to address this already, and will continue to push for public disclosure of any non-sensitive information. We believe the public has a right to know.

Thank you for your attention to this important energy decision.

Karen Hadden, SEED Coalition
512-797-8481   karen@seedcoalition.org

If you have questions, please feel free to contact our attorney, Robert V. Eye, at 757-234-4040.

Summary of Texas’ Nuclear Interventions

Texas is Ground Zero in the fight against a new generation of nuclear reactors. We’ve gained Intervenor status in the cases against Comanche Peak and South Texas Project reactors and all of the contentions we have been granted will set national precedent.

Oral arguments were held on Nov. 12-13 for Comanche Peak and South Texas Project on the admissibility of new contentions regarding new NRC fires and explosions rules.

South Texas Project Intervention

5 Admitted Contentions (Hearing to be held after NRC issues final EIS, expected in Spring 2011)

1. Impacts from severe radiological accident scenarios on the operation of other units at the STP site have not been considered in the Environmental Report.
2.The Environmental Report fails to analyze the environmental impacts associated with the increase in radionuclide concentration in the MCR due to operation of STP 3 & 4.
3.The Environmental Report fails to predict or evaluate the effects of increasing groundwater tritium concentrations.
4.The Environmental Report fails to analyze the environmental impacts of unregulated seepage from the MCR into the adjacent shallow groundwater.
5.The Environmental Report fails to consider adequately the environmental impact of the possible withdrawal of additional groundwater in excess of that authorized by the     current permits.
 
7 New Fires and Explosions Contentions Pending – Admissibility argued in Rockville, MD on Nov. 13

NRC recognizes in its new rules that nuclear plants are vulnerable to air attacks. On August 14th the Intervenors filed seven contentions regarding STP's failure to comply with the new NRC fire safety rule which says each licensee must “develop and implement guidance and strategies intended to maintain or restore core cooling, containment, and spent fuel pool cooling capabilities under the circumstances associated with loss of large areas of the plant due to explosions or fire,” including those that would occur from the impact of a large commercial airliner. However, the Intervenors’ contentions that STP has failed to meet the fire and explosion regulatory requirements, STP’s submittal, and related documents are considered “sensitive” by the NRC and are not available to the public.

UTSA’s Institute for Conventional, Alternative and Renewable Energy hires Les Shephard from Sandia National Laboratories

Here's the UTSA press release:

The University of Texas at San Antonio announced today the appointment of Les Shephard, a nationally recognized expert who often speaks before U.S. Congress on energy and water issues, to head its Institute for Conventional, Alternative and Renewable Energy (ICARE). Shephard will assume his role as director of the UTSA institute effective April 15, 2010.

“Les Shephard is an expert in his field. He is knowledgeable, well-respected and highly sought-after by energy companies across the world,” said UTSA President Ricardo Romo. “We are thrilled that he will be coming here to UTSA, where he will work with our faculty and our collaborative partners to build a world-class energy institute right here in San Antonio.”

Shephard will reside in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in UTSA’s College of Engineering, where he will hold the USAA Robert F. McDermott Distinguished Chair in Engineering, an endowment which contributed greatly to his recruitment to UTSA.

“I am truly delighted to hear that Dr. Les Shephard is joining I-CARE after many years of very distinguished leadership at Sandia, including his position as vice president for energy and critical global infrastructure,” said David B. Prior, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at The University of Texas System. “I have known Les personally and professionally since his doctoral work at Texas A&M and know that he will undoubtedly contribute very substantially to new directions at ICARE and to the new strengths in energy-related research across the University of Texas System.”

Shephard’s hire comes at a crucial time for UTSA, which is competing with six other Texas universities to reach tier one status. To achieve that goal, UTSA must significantly increase its annual federal research expenditures. Energy research is one of five strategic areas it will focus on to do so.

Under Shephard’s direction, UTSA’s energy institute, ICARE, will bring together representatives from industry, government and academia to explore alternative energy sources. It will also look into new policies and best practices for the energy industry in the region, the state and internationally. The Institute’s research will involve every college at UTSA and the university’s existing Center for Water Research. ICARE will also support the Energy Research Alliance of San Antonio, developed earlier this year by UTSA, Southwest Research Institute, CPS Energy and San Antonio Water System. The Alliance, which is in its infancy, will conceptualize, develop and commercialize technologies to meet San Antonio’s current and future energy challenges.

Shephard joins UTSA from Sandia National Laboratories, which is managed by Lockheed Martin Corporation for the U.S. Department of Energy, where he served for more than 27 years. Most recently, Shephard was vice president of Sandia’s Energy, Security and Defense Technologies Division, a multi-program science-based engineering laboratory located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Historically, Shephard’s Sandia division has developed, deployed and commercialized technologies and capabilities that address many of our nation’s most pressing national security challenges in energy, water, infrastructure and strategic nuclear materials. The division has also pursued technology breakthroughs that will contribute to alternative transportation fuels, energy efficiency, responsible environmental stewardship and renewable energy options. Today, it works with more than 100 nations around the work, pursuing a principal mission of creating a peaceful and free world through technology.

Free Design-Build-Live Austin presentation: Sustainable Water Treatment and Reuse, November 16, 2009

From Design-Build-Live:

Sustainable Water Treatment & Reuse
A Design~Build~Live Special Presentation at City Hall
Monday, November 16, 2009, 2:30 – 4:30 pm

Sustainable development today is grappling with how to treat and reuse water in projects. LEED gives credits for water treatment and reuse, and the Living Building Challenge, at the forefront of green design, mandates it. Conventional treatment technology is centralized, expensive, energy intensive and difficult to translate onsite to buildings or developments. This presentation will discuss proven onsite water treatment solutions that offer the benefits of being attractive, inexpensive, flexible, robust, and low maintenance while using little-to-no energy.

Come learn about alternatives to centralized water treatment systems – alternatives that are sustainable and distributed, making treated water available for reuse locally where it’s needed. Both residential and commercial systems will be discussed. Also included will be a brief digression with pictures on European natural swimming pool technology which uses constructed wetlands instead of chlorine.

Presenters: Whole Water Systems principals are pioneers in sustainable onsite water treatment and have been designing biological treatment systems including constructed wetlands for more than twenty years. www.wholewater.com

Morgan Brown, LEED AP, NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer, BS electrical engineering. President, Whole Water Systems

David Venhuizen, P.E., MS civil engineering, BS biology. Principal Engineer, Whole Water Systems
Decentralize water treatment pioneer with 25 years design experience
 
Who should attend? City/regional water and stormwater regulators, civil engineers, landscape architects, architects, permaculturists, motivated general public.

Location: Austin City Hall, Council Chambers, 301 West 2nd Street, Austin, TX 78701 (Map) Note: Parking in the City Hall parking garage beneath the building is free if you bring your parking ticket in for validation.

Admission: Free and open to the public

Thanks to Council Member Chris Riley for sponsoring this DBL water conservation event at the City Hall Council Chambers.

Natural Swimming Pools and Constructed Wetlands, A Design Build Live Austin monthly presentation, Wednesday November 18, 2009

Austin's Design Build Live, our much more proactive and natural building oriented cousins have done it again.  Their November presentation covers two very interesting water related topics.  Artificial wetlands for wastewater treatment can solve a lot of problems.  Imagine being off the wastewater grid.  It is possible.

From DBL:

Natural Swimming Pools and Constructed Wetlands
      A Design~Build~Live Monthly Presentation: Water as a Cherished Resource


Wednesday, November 18, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Lance Armstrong Foundation, 2201 East 6th Street, Austin,TX 

Continuing with DBL’s water priority, our guest presenters will discuss two wonderful, sustainable alternatives to conventional water systems:

Beautiful, healthful swimming pools that rely on biological systems rather than toxic chlorine to treat the water.

Attractive, vegetated constructed wetlands that treat wastewater naturally, as an alternative to conventional septic tanks that simply dispose of it.

Guest Presenters:
Morgan Brown, LEED AP, NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer, electrical engineer and President, Whole Water Systems, www.wholewater.com

David Venhuizen, P.E. civil engineer, biologist. Decentralized water treatment pioneer with 25 years design experience

This presentation is free and open to the public. No reservation required. For more information contact Gayle at gayle@designbuildlive.org or 512-478-9033.

Waterpik 1.5 gallon per minute EcoFlow hand held shower head saves water and delivers a satisfying shower

A marketer for Waterpik sent me an EcoFlow 1.5 gallon per minute 5 mode hand held shower head to review.  After using it a few days I can report that their design delivers a very nice shower.  I think my wife and I are every bit as clean as we are when we use our 2.5 gallon per minute shower head.

The exterior of the shower head is largely chrome colored plastic rather than metal.  If it were metal  the head would weigh much more than the twelve ounces that it does.  In my experience such plastic stands up much better than chrome or stainless steel especially since bleach is commonly used to clean showers, and bleach does nasty things to stainless.  In addition the plastic doesn't transfer heat like metal would so the handle stays comfortable to the touch.

On this model a specially designed water restricting and pipe debris filtering pivot ball is installed between the shower arm and the shower hose.  Without it in place the unit won't work.   I think that means it is harder for contractors and plumbers to turn it from a water sipper to a water hog.

This unit comes with a "pause control" but it doesn't stop the flow of water. The pause control reduces water flow.  This prevents the changes in water temperature that happen in my house where we use a shower head that completely shuts of the water.  Many people wouldn't put up with the momentary temperature changes so the Waterpik design works better for them than a full stop pause control would.

The five foot hose which is included is short enough so that the shower head won't hit the floor if it is dropped.

The model I tested has  five water settings, ten if you count that water continues to flow when the pause control is used.  One of the settings concentrates water in a small area which allowed me to clean my multi-blade razor reasonably well.  There is also a setting that atomizes the water completely into a gentle cloud of water.  Of course, the kinetic settings where water goes on and off like the fountains at Bellagio in Las Vegas fascinate many people.  The designers were pretty clever in figuring out configurations for such a reduced flow of water.  

The unit can be hung from a hook and used as a stationary shower head, though my wife who is only 5 feet tall reminded me that she can't reach the shower arm from the floor of the shower.  To remove it from the hook she had to stand on the shower ledge.

I would feel much better about the EcoFlow if every component could be disassembled completely to allow removal of the pipe debris, but to my knowledge no hand held massaging shower head can be taken apart completely and reassembled.

Only time will tell if it is easily clogged and easy to clean.  I suspect that because the outlets on the head are tiny that they may lime up and that debris from the corroding 85 year old plumbing in our house will clog things up. If it does then the filtering, water restricting pivot ball will have to be removed and cleaned in addition to detaching the head from the hose.  Removing the pivot ball requires the use of a special plastic wrench which is included with the shower head. 

For more information you can view a pdf of the instruction manual online and be sure to look at their website at http://www.waterpikecoflow.com/.

Here's an inexpensive, easily maintained 2.5 gpm (gallons per minute) low flow hand held shower head that's also extra versitile

 I've used hand held shower heads for 25 years. I've done quite a bit of thinking about them and experimenting with different models. Why? Because I am a nut and cheap that's why!

My favorite is the one I use now. It is by far the cheapest, most useful, lightest and most easily maintained. The only cheaper model I've used was a piece of rubber tubing which I squeezed over the spout of a claw foot tub back in the low rent days but it wasn't low flow and didn't have a cut off valve unless you count my thumb pressed over the end.

My favorite hand held shower head isn't found with the other hand held units because it is actually a low flow economy shower head (the cheap ones sold at Big Lots and bargain stores) mounted to a shower arm (the pipe that screws into the pipe in the wall) which is attached to a shower hose which is then screwed into the shower arm that goes into the wall.

Westside Creek restoration project public workshops October 24, 2009

Water Charting the Course, November 4, 2009 11 a.m fundraiser and presentation

Sol Center presents: Caring for the Earth: the Edwards Aquifer

This course has already started and it is probably too late to attend but it sounded interesting so I wanted to include information on it on the chance that you may be able to catch the last three sessions. Call the SolCenter office (210-732-9920) to find out.

From their website:

In this class, we will explore our interconnectedness and interdependence with the natural world through two lenses: 1) New legal approaches and 2) The needs of the Edwards Aquifer. We will share moments of prayer, reflection, and discussion based on short readings. Each of the four sessions will explore a specific approach - regulation, property, precaution, and rights - and several strategies within each approach, considering ways each strategy might or might not help the Edwards Aquifer.

Participants should attend the films, Trouble the Water, on August 29, 6:30 p.m. and Hurricane Ike Documentary on September 13, 6:30 p.m. This course is for any interested person who wants to further his or her Earth literacy and is curious why the legal system is not better protecting the Earth: teachers, grant funders, religious leaders, policy makers, activists, attorneys, volunteers, and students.

About the instructor: Libby Comeaux, a Texas native and Colorado lawyer, recently spent a year in Miami and Orlando at the Center for Earth Jurisprudence, founded as part of the Great Work envisioned by the late Thomas Berry.

Sol Center presents "Earth, Water, and Working for the Seventh Generation" October 6, 13, 20 & 27

The Sol Center, part of University Presbyterian Church located adjacent to Trinity University, is offering a unique examination of water issues entitled "Earth, Water, and Working for the Seventh Generation".

The presentations will take place from 7 to 9 pm each Tuesday in October. Tuition is $45 and the deadline for registration is September 29, 2009.

Presenters include Alyssa Burgin and Sisters Linda Gibler, Elise Garcia and Carol Coston and Dianne Monroe who will participate in a panel discussion for the October 6 session.

The second session, Water: Cosmic & Sacred Stories, on October 13 will be led by Sister Linda Gibler OP. She will trace the scientific and sacred stories of water from the Big Bang to today.

Alyssa Burgin will lead the October 20 session, "Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink”, which will address the irony of water shortage in a time of rising seas which will "inundate coastal communities by the year 2100. Under the same sky, we will face a situation in which the Chihuahua Desert will expand farther eastward through West Texas."

Sister Elise Garcia, OP and Sister Carol Coston will give a presentation on about a nearby ecological model of living more lightly (using less water) on Earth, Santuario Sisterfarm .

Here is a link to registration. Call the SolCenter office (210-732-9920) if you have questions or concerns about your registration.

Headwater's Coalition creates master plan to protect remaining undeveloped headwaters of San Antonio River

The Headwaters Coalition has completed a master plan to guide further development of the headwaters of the San Antonio River which was put into the protection of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word by San Antonio philanthropist George W. Brackenridge .

From the executive summary of the plan:

This master plan focuses on physical aspects of sanctuary stewardship (ecological restoration and visitor infrastructure). As such, it represents the beginning of strategic planning for the Headwaters project and will be followed with collaborations that target the equally important areas of education and scholarship, spiritual exploration, and cultural heritage (see Goals, below).

While thetHeadwaters Coalition views its mission holistically, we recognize the need to divide a large planning project into stages; this sanctuary master plan is the first piece of a larger whole. Within this document we attempt to outline the process by which we will restore and maintain the ecological integrity of the sanctuary land and facilitate public access.

Goals for the plan include (from the master plan):

1. Ecological Restoration: Restore and maintain the ecological integrity of the sanctuary to the degree possible, and allow for natural variation over time.

2. Cultural Heritage Preservation and Spiritual Exploration: Protect and celebrate the cultural heritage associated with the Headwaters, through education and through the continuance of cultural uses. Support spiritual exploration through understanding historical spiritual use, engaging in spiritual experiences, and bringing forth the sacred nature of the land.

3. Education and Scholarship: Use the sanctuary as a platform for educational programs covering such topics as ecology, environmental sustainability, human history with the land, nature and spirituality.

4. Sanctuary Visitation. Provide a restorative, broadening and safe environment for humans, while always respecting and protecting the natural community.

You can find a pdf of the Master Plan executive summary here.