Virginia water restrictions

[rocketraider]

Governor Mark Warner has issued an executive order restricting water use across much of the Commonwealth. From the morning paper cutline, not only does this include surface water sources such as rivers and lakes, but also groundwater sources (wells, springs etc). Restrictions include but are not limited to: watering lawns, filling swimming pools and washing cars except at commercial car washes. The way I read this, not only can I not wash my collector cars here at home on city water, I can't even wash them using the well at my Mama's place in the county.

Executive orders generally stick for one year. Stuff could get real nasty during that time, and commercial washers just don't cut it, unless the order is going to exempt detailing businesses who hand wash as part of their service.

I'm well aware that much of VA is in severe drought conditions, but prohibiting use of your own well seems a bit far-reaching to me. The city water system here pulls from the Dan River, which is low but still running at near 160 million gallons a day and up to this point, the local government had seen no pressing need to implement water restrictions. Now they have no choice, and knowing them they'll use it as a revenue tool. I can see me facing a judge now because I washed one of my Oldsmobiles.

Thots from other VA DFers, and from other arid places?

[R W Burgess]

Hey Rocket, You need to wash that Olds inside the garage. I like the wet towel deal, I mentioned earlier to you. Just don't let the car get so dirty, that you grind dirt back in your paint with an overly dirty towel. Wayne

[rocketraider]

That would work if the garage were here at the house. It's a couple miles from here and no running water. I'd have to haul water up there to even damp mop them. I don't worry as much about the toy cars as they rarely get that dirty, but I like to keep the daily drivers clean too. Bottom line is mandatory restrictions gnaw at me.

Friend in Greensboro NC (where they go into water restrictions EVERY summer) once said as long as he had a lockable garage with a floor drain, his car would stay clean.

I've got an angle on this with a buddy's Amoco station. He just hired a detail guy and put out a shingle, so I'll prolly just wash them there. He could be considered a commercial carwash I guess. There's ways around things.

[Dave@Moon]

For the record, water companies (public and/or private) [color:\\"red\\"] hate these linds of restrictions much more than consumers. Imagine being in the gasoline business when there's a mandatory order to restrict use of your product, and you have to go through 3 or 4 public boards to get price increases approved. Unless your local Sewage Treatment Plant Engineer and his staff are happy to take salary cuts to make up the difference, don't expect to hear too much giggling outside the water company's offices.

And as for restricting the use of private well water, where do you think it comes from? This idea that ownership of something imparts absolution of responsibility in its use is about five football fields to the right of John Wayne! You can't burn your garbage, you can't fire your gun, you can't drive your ATV, and you can't wear your crotchless nurse's outfit with absolution anywhere you see fit; why should your well water be any different.

If the drought's really that bad, maybe preserving the public welfare is more important than a well-detailed 1983 Custom Cruiser. And don't expect to be fooling anyone when <span style="font-style: italic">it's</span> the only clean car on the road!

And if the governor doesn't lift his order within days of major, replenishing rainfall, then [color:\\"red\\"] vote his butt out!

I guess this would be a bad time to point out that using high fuel consumption vehicles (like 1983 Custom Cruisers) continuously is a major contributor to global warming, which is increasing the frequency of these kinds of situations.

(insert missing rolleyes graemlin here, or create optional new shrugging graemlin)

Ah, the vicious cycle of life!

[Guest]

i read with interest about the virginia water restrictions and believe that there is a compromise that could be agreed upon. however having said that, washing any car, truck, tractor, or what ever elese, if water conservation is kept in mind and practiced, then states, counties, or locale government(s), should take a globle look at the use of the water, or any other resource, to insure that the everyday people aren't deprived. here in az, (thank god), we are incouraged not to waste our resources, but they are for us to use.

our state constitution gives water rights to the owner of the property, unless sold off. I own three parcels of property in which two of them i have had wells drilled. on each of them i can draw as much as 35 gallions per minute. with this water i am able to do whatever i care, including selling the water. i get 10c a gallon.

i'm happy that dave@moon lives in ohio, we down here don't need people like him putting my state in the same situation as his.

we perfer our RIGHTS!

george p

from az.

[rocketraider]

The 1983 Custom Cruiser is long paid for, runs well and looks decent enough for a 19 year old car. It delivers 16mpg and passes all its smog tests easily. Why should I stop driving it in favor of an econo-crapbox that although it may deliver 30 mpg plus, is patently unsafe against the big trucks and SUVs crowding the roads? Plus I'd have outrageous car payment, new car taxes and insurance on something I couldn't stand the sight of. Sorry Dave that argument doesn't hold water .

You may remember that I work at one of the largest fossil fired steam electric plants in the country, so I'm well acquainted with environmental rules and regs, and 2 AM visits from the EPA. Fugitive emissions such as coal dust and fly ash cannot be completely eliminated (although we do a damned good job of it!), and when that stuff lands on a painted finish and contacts water i.e. dew, sulfuric acid is a byproduct of that mixture and will eat paint to the metal if not removed. Do you now understand why I want the stuff washed off?

I gave the current flow rate of the Dan. Of that 160 million gallons per day, roughly 120 million of it goes over the weirs to points downstream. That doesn't count the water returned to the river after sewage treatment. This river feeds Buggs Island Lake, which again is low, but not critically so. The Roanoke River basin is not in as nearly dire straits as basins north of here. The well at my Mama's produces 15 gallons a minute and shows no signs of drying up.

I believe Governor Warner is using this issue to make political hay in Northern VA and Charlottesville. And we don't have to vote him out- by the state Constitution, he cannot serve consecutive terms as Governor of the Commonwealth.

[Guest Hal Davis (MODEL A HAL)]

We have had water restrictions for a couple of years now. I don't recall if they are local or statewide. They apply only to people on "city water". We have a community well, so I've not worried too much about it.

I have a question that I'm sure Dave@moon would be happy to answer. What happens to the water after I water my lawn or wash my car?

I figure part of it evaporates and eventually comes back as rain. The other part filters down through the ground and eventually ends up in someone's well.

[Dave@Moon]

Now why did I know that people would less than enthused by that post?

<span style="font-weight: bold">RR:</span> I think that removing acidic fly ash would constitute a special case. I never was an air quality inspector, but I worked several times at coal plants monitoring worker respiration saftey for a consulting firm, so I know what you're dealing with. Fly ash is a pain in the ash. (Haven't heard that one in a while, huh! )

Back in the dark ages, when Pittsburgh was still making steel with little influence by EPA or OSHA, it was commonplace for the steel workers to carry car covers with them. They'd cover their cars while parked in the mill lot. Using a cover won't replace washing the stuff off, but it should cut down on it some.

If push comes to shove, you may want to consider coating the car with a spray non-stick coating like PAM. The car will look like fecal matter after a while, but once you wash it off the paint surface will have been protected.

By the, 16 mpg is phenomenal out of an '83 Custom Cruiser. My dad's '77 Estate Wagon could <span style="font-style: italic">barely</span> manage 13 on the highway. It usually got around 11 in town. And VA new car taxes still perplex me. Why does that state encourage the use of old cars that way?

"Unsafe against the big trucks and SUV's"? Just what are you doing with that car down there? Actually, it's thinking like that that eventually has people buying Navigators to get their hair done once a month. Another vicious cycle of life.

<span style="font-weight: bold">George:</span> "Water rights" in the west have always been a special case. The concept is left over from the time when the prevailing thoght was that we'd never use more water than we'd find. It's all well and good until....

"Rights" without responsibility can be a very ugly thing.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Hal:</span> Yes, it does come back down as rain....in Uganda! And soil filters water only in the sense that the major chunks of stuff are removed and <span style="font-style: italic">some</span> inorganic materials bind to the soil. Unless you have specialized, aerated soil conditions maintained between the deposit and withdrawl of the water, even the biodegradable materials will eventually make it to the well. Blech!

[Judd]

So I should scrap my 16 mpg 56 Buick and pay some one to destroy a mountain in West Verginia killing the local streams to get coal they will ship to China, Mexico, Indonesia, etc. leaking oil all the way across the ocean. Then I can get the oil companies to polute the wilderness or support terrorists to make the plastic. Let's see then the parts manufacturers can burn the coal unrestricted by government clean air restrictions to make cart parts that will be shipped to the location of cheapest labor leaking oil all the way. I guess I forgot about the strip mining of iron ore and other metals that will be shipped around the world to cheapest labor market leaking oil all the way. Then I can have a cheap plastic computer controlled piece of junk that no one including the dealer can fix like the last new car I bought that had to be replaced in 3 years starting the proccess all over again. The 11 mpg 86 boat sounds more like the enviromentally frendly choice to me. I'm not getting big campain contributions from people trying to sell new cars though so that may shade my opinions. LOL

[Guest]

I'm here on Long Island, the land of excess where clueless employees can be seen hosing down the parking lots of Mcdonalds and Kmart and countless other establishments and built in sprinkler systems are forever directing precious streams of water onto the sidewalks or into the street,don't get me started for chrissakes!

[rocketraider]

Strangely, washdown isn't even mentioned in the VA restrictions .

I also find it very strange that the Guv'ner's traditional voter base in Northern Virginia's DC suburbs is exempt from the restrictions. The gentleman knows which side his political bread is buttered on!

[OlJalopy]

Being on the regulatory side, maybe I can shed a bit of light on the initial question. The current drought situation didn't happen overnight. It has been years in the making. With an increase in urban sprawl comes a decrease in groundwater recharge, since hard-surfaced areas, such as pavement and roofs, shed rainwater, rather than allowing for the ground to absorb it. It is then collected in storm drains, conveyed to creeks, streams, and rivers, and on downstream to the great Atlantic. It will take several years of above average precipitation. both rain and snow, to begin a reversal of the trend. Without it, the ol' well in the country will eventually run dry. The municipal system may draw from a river or lake, but those sources are also finite, though to a lesser degree. They all need recharge via Mother Nature.

Now is a real good time to conserve water. I'm fortunate enough to be living adjacent to the Great Lakes, and the house is on a municipal supply. But it only has been for the past twenty-plus years. It is an old farmhouse, and has two huge cisterns in the basement, to collect rain water for everyday use. We no longer use them, but maybe those folks back in the 1800s knew something!!

To help keep that Olds clean, try putting a barrel under a downspout.