From the Tom Kierans school of thinking outside the box comes a suggestion from your humble scribe that could assist the Capital City with its water supply problems.
As you're no doubt aware, our wise municipal elders have implemented a water ban in response to below-average water levels in the City's water reservoirs. A prudent response that will have severe repercussions for folks who have made significant investments in flora and lawns. Some people are complaining about industrial car washes, others are saying it is time to implement water meters which might force people to conserve water, and waste less.
The problem, folks, is pretty simple...we do not have enough water. We have lots of rocks, we have lots of fog, but ground water supplies always get low in the summer. Hold on, did I say we have lots of fog, hmm.
Why don't we tap into that wonderful renewable resource, those dense banks of fog that roll in over the hills along the Eastern Avalon just about every day? We could establish fog collecting nets that could gather thousands of gallons of water for the city every day.
The idea may sound a little bizarre but it can work. With a few thousand dollars and a little labor, we can access thousands of gallons of water a day - without a single drop of rain falling.
It is not a new idea. As far back as 2,000 years ago, desert villages and other rain-starved communities around the world may have started harvesting fog that collected as water and dripped from trees.
Fog collection works not by condensation, which is what happens when water vapor hits a cold surface and transforms into a liquid. In fact, the water in fog is already in liquid form—it's just in very, very small drops. As wind blows the heavy fog through, tiny droplets stick to a mesh.
Fog catchers have been used successfully—though on a small scale—all over the world.
Could it work here to provide assistance in these dry periods? Why not?
Check out this month's National Geographic and learn how fog collectors have worked in Peru and Chile.
13 comments:
You got to be kidding me.
It might be practical to try and capture the moisture from the air and fog but how about fixing the inequities with the water supply first?
I'm told that there is in excess of 50 million litres a week going missing from the water inventory of Winsor lake just through leaks in piping coming into the city and its environs.
Last week saw a prime example of why we are now facing a water ban: In front of Bowrings on Water Street there was a water valve that was leaking at least four weeks and it was only last week that it got fixed when it went from "leak" to "major pothole and road washout"...
City council here leaves everything to someone else's department and everyone else, the tax-payer, has to foot the consequences...
TAX PAYERS BEWARE - April 01,2008 P&P
I cannot say I was all that surprised to learn that St. John's City Council is looking at a proposal to up our water taxes to help meet the runaway costs of building a new sewage treatment plant. The money has to come from somewhere!
I was not surprised to learn that Keith "White Elephant" Coombs is the councilor chairing the committee which oversees the project, now $40 million over budget.
I seem to recall a special increase in taxes already for harbour clean-up. With all the provincial business done in this city, from hospitals to government, is it fair to saddle the average homeowner with these overruns? Surely the province can share the wealth a little and help the capital city deal with this massive capital works issue.
At the very least council needs to reconsider hitting everyone with a new bill. If they are going to meet the costs by taxing us more for water use than they should be prepared to ensure we have a better water system. It seems unfair to ask for more money for water and than tell me in August that my lawn can burn up because I cannot spray it.
As well, the idea of water meters seems to be worth considering. Bill the big users? Why should folks on fixed incomes be denied food on the table or oil for the furnace to pay this bill when they are not using near as much water as others?
Of course this is only part of the problem. The city continues to suffer from a develop or perish mentality that has meant that newer areas of the city have expanded and the older truck lines through the downtown and older sections of the city have not been upgraded in many decades. We lose more water through seepage from old pipes than from any other usage.
The city is facing an unprecedented infrastructure crisis. What is the long term plan? How much is it going to cost and is this latest proposal to lift another $150 a year out of our wallets just the beginning?
Gouging us all is too easy a lever for council. Let's hear the alternatives.
Thank God "The Elders" have not read DUNE or we'd all be making "reclamtion" suits ;^)
Peter:
I know that you were half-joking with this post but the more that I mull this over, the more sense it makes. What an opportunity to take something that is viewed as a negative and turn it into a positive. Would there be salt in our fog?
St. John's is too big for this type of venture to make much of a difference but imagine if fog could be harvested for water along the south coast of the province where water quality is an issue. Places like Ramea, Gaultos,Lamaline, St. Shots.
This might work. You should bring this to the Minister of Municipal Affairs.
When the water treatment plant cleans the water won't that source of new clean water be implemented back into the water system? Or did all the wise birds just focus collecting industrial fog. Or not plan and pay for the good water cleaning equipment. Thinking out of the box does not mean you look at a box while your thinking
Further more with the discussions of water meters would the same meter be able to calculate the amount of sewage being release from each household, and then we could have a sewage tax. this new source of revenue would enable the city to build a dome over the city and then we could get rid of all the snow clearing cost with the saving in snow clearing cost we would then have enough money to build a new city hall with a bigger and better mayors chair and pay them salaries equal to that of GM executives giving them stock options with inherent control forcing the city to go bankrupt and get a multibillion dollar bail out just before the next election in 2013, oooooo that sounds like a scary number.
Simply I think water conservation is wise, reduce reuse recycle and putting a moratorium on frivolous water use is wise during times of intense evaporation. Give somebody a garden hose and the think they are a fireman… Water is not a toy it’s a crucial ingredient for us to sustain life on all levels. It’s what we are made of keep cool keep your fog nets home and drink a cold beer.
Fog nets !!!! Garbage nets!!!! buckets of Shi#
will it be maditory for every household to erect their fognets before 8 am in the morning before they go to work. but only on foggy days and any fog nets left out on non foggy days households will be fined.
will somebody crack a window i think the boss just farted or died something stinks. lol
Lol! Enjoyed these
Conservation is certainly the key but better planning as to be considered. Lets face it the city and the region have been growing in leaps and bounds over the past ten years and we have not brought any new sources of water on line. It has to catch-up.
It has to catch-up.
What about the demand side of the equation?
Wally:
Thats what I am talking about. Demand has really outstripped supply and that problem is even more pronounced in the summer when greatly increased recreational/garden uses of water combined with low precipitation levels create lower water levels.
When the water treatment plant cleans the water won't that source of new clean water be implemented back into the water system?
Can anybody answer that question! they do it in new york and austrialia and many other places as well
Peter
Your bias is showing (see comment on Keith Coombs). I think the whole Council has to bear the brunt of this over run on cost.
No, actually, when you say:
Lets face it the city and the region have been growing in leaps and bounds over the past ten years and we have not brought any new sources of water on line. It has to catch-up.
You are talking about supply-side measures, not demand-side ones.
Start metering. That's most of the problem right there.
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