Water Woes

It seems our country either has too much water....or not enough. It seems rare to have it 'just right'! 

In California arguments arise over what percentage of water should be made available for agriculture, which is a huge industry in the state, and what percentage should be made for residential use. Complicating the argument is the use of huge open canals that transport water from the Sierra Nevadas to farm lands throughout the state. The water in open canals is subject to evaporation. The LA Times reports: 

California's 4,000 miles of canals and open aqueducts lose an estimated 63 billion gallons (roughly 193,000 acre-feet) of water to evaporation each year. This evaporated volume represents enough water to meet the household needs of approximately 2 million people or irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland annually. [1, 2]

There are growing concerns about drinking water contamination as well. 

Having lived in Colorado, where our annual rainfall total was only 15-18, and now in Florida where until recent rains we were well below our annual rainfall amounts and our aquifers are lower than usual, I am sensitive about water use. 

So, now after all of that blabbety-blabbing, I'll get to the reason I am writing this post!

Over the years at my California Condo I have made a little succulent garden. In February I was awed by how large and healthy my garden had grown in my absence! Look at the size of some of those 'flowers'!

The secret? My hose irrigation system that waters the plants on a schedule. 

But, my hose bib leaks.

 It drips.

And, those drips add up.

At one point I 'solved' my problem (assuaged my guilt), by putting a plant under the faucet, in line with the drip. But, that proved to be far too much water for the plant and it died. 

I decided to leave the irrigation off, letting the plants fend for themselves.

They are succulents, after all, and they don't require that much moisture.

When I arrived at the California Condo last week my garden was a sorry sight. 

By the time I thought to take a picture, I had already trimmed several plants,

but you can see it was a far cry from what it had been six months previously.

I kept thinking about that darn leaky faucet (it drips from the back blow preventer...next time I'm out here I"ll replace it) and my life-giving irrigation system! 

I thought of hooking up some sort of funnel, attached to a hose, to redirect the drips.

I grabbed a water bottle, and discovered that my hose would screw on the end of it. I could cut the bottom of the bottle, and suspend it under the drip somehow.

Then, I hit upon the solution. I had in may possession a brightly colored ceramic planter I found the last time I was here. I brought it in to wash it, thinking I might use it to hold kitchen spoons, spatulas and other tools. While washing it I noticed that it did have a small drain hole at the bottom edge. The irrigation tubing fit perfectly in that hole. 

Can you see my bright 'drip' pot amongst the succulents, under the hose bib?

Here it is...with a black tube coming out of the bottom on the right, going behind the blue pot.

I ran the tubing under the door, tacking it about 6" above the patio,

slightly lower than where the tube exits the pot.

The tube runs behind the pile of stuff in the corner, 

continues down along the fence of the patio,

and drips on the ground by the pot I placed to hold the tube between the two plants. 

If you look closely you might see the end of the tube. 

And why did I bother to reroute the water to this side of the patio?

There is a large massive Sequoya tree at the corner of my property.

The local arborist has explained that the tree needs more water.

The residents do put out a soaker hose, but it gets moved, it gets turned off,

it isn't necessarily doing the job.

I've created my own version of a soaker hose! 

One drip at a time!