31 January 2011

Actew advise on watering - Give tips on cyclic watering

| johnboy
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Water use is shooting up as fast as temperatures and the promised late January deluge has failed to arrive.

Fortunately Actew is reminding us all how and when we can water under the “permanent water conservation measures”.

They’re also recommending “cyclic watering” which goes like this:

    1. Water a designated area until pooling and runoff begins, then turn the water off.

    2. Leave the area for half an hour to an hour to allow the water to soak into the soil.

    3. Water the area again until pooling and runoff begins, then turn the water off.

    4. Again, leave the area for half an hour to an hour to allow the water to soak into the soil.

    5. In between watering cycles, dig around to see if the water is reaching the root zones. Then you will know how many times you have to repeat the cyclic watering process to let the water reach areas where it is really needed. You can then program your drip irrigation system accordingly.

    6. Continue steps 1-5 throughout the watering time permitted by the relevant restriction stage to maximise the benefit of watering while minimising water usage. You should only need to water each area once or twice a week, depending on the weather.

So now you know.

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Let’s also remember that the main users of stored water are not home consumers but industry. I’ve always found it hilarious that there’s such a push on the home user to reduce their water usage, but there seems to be very little pressure on business.

Here’s something I’ve never understood about the water usage targets. If the general public cut down on their home water usage, then it gives industry a free run to use extra water up to that target.

Unfortunately this applies to any sort of environment limits… including carbon limits. They’re an upper limit, and so there will be use up to that limit every time.

Sort of like Government Department budgets.

kakosi said :

Just stating the obvious here but the drought is over, the dams are 100 percent and people are still being brainwashed into conserving water – while no doubt it’s being flushed out of over full dams downstream. When there was a shortage it was sensible to conserve – now it’s just brainwashing to get us to believe we should keep paying the really high prices ACTEW has set.

In a little while ACTEW will begin to encourage more water use because their profits will drop – wait for the “you can use sprinklers at these times” campaign.

ACTEW doesn’t set the prices, an independent regulator does, and I think you’ll find that ACTEW would actually like people to be using more water currently because yes it would make them more $$$.
I don’t know about you, but a company telling me how I can use their product more efficiently doesn’t really fit your evil corporation conspiracy.

Keijidosha said :

kakosi said :

Just stating the obvious here but the drought is over, the dams are 100 percent and people are still being brainwashed into conserving water – while no doubt it’s being flushed out of over full dams downstream. When there was a shortage it was sensible to conserve – now it’s just brainwashing to get us to believe we should keep paying the really high prices ACTEW has set.

I think your tin-foil hat is too tight. Regardless of prices ActewAGL (and ACTEW Corp) will always make more money by selling more water. Annual water consumption in Canberra is on par with Perth and Brisbane, and given our much milder climate that figure is too high IMO. Suggesting we use less water is about education and common sense, and deffers the multi-billion dollar construction of a new dam in the ACT. If you want to talk about the cost of water, wait until the bill for that infrastructure needs to be passed on to consumers.

Perth and Brisbane are irrelevant – but if you must compare water usage rates then what about factoring in their significantly higher average rainfall, higher humidity and lower rates of evapouration?? I know in Brisbane at least they used to have an extremely generous program for water tanks – which I’d gladly take up here (we have a program but it’s not very generous and quite restrictive)

The message seems to be: please come and live in Canberra, build a house, pump more people into the city – but please don’t use our resources even if they are plentiful.

kakosi said :

Just stating the obvious here but the drought is over, the dams are 100 percent and people are still being brainwashed into conserving water – while no doubt it’s being flushed out of over full dams downstream. When there was a shortage it was sensible to conserve – now it’s just brainwashing to get us to believe we should keep paying the really high prices ACTEW has set.

I think your tin-foil hat is too tight. Regardless of prices ActewAGL (and ACTEW Corp) will always make more money by selling more water. Annual water consumption in Canberra is on par with Perth and Brisbane, and given our much milder climate that figure is too high IMO. Suggesting we use less water is about education and common sense, and deffers the multi-billion dollar construction of a new dam in the ACT. If you want to talk about the cost of water, wait until the bill for that infrastructure needs to be passed on to consumers.

georgesgenitals8:17 am 01 Feb 11

I use my soaker-hose anyway, usually a couple of times per week. Leave it on 5 mins each position and the grass is great.

Just stating the obvious here but the drought is over, the dams are 100 percent and people are still being brainwashed into conserving water – while no doubt it’s being flushed out of over full dams downstream. When there was a shortage it was sensible to conserve – now it’s just brainwashing to get us to believe we should keep paying the really high prices ACTEW has set.

In a little while ACTEW will begin to encourage more water use because their profits will drop – wait for the “you can use sprinklers at these times” campaign.

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