Tracking code caldwell guardian

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Caldwell Water Report In And It is Liquid Gold In Quality

People in Caldwell take water  for granted.  Once again the water quality report was sent out to users in their monthly water bills this past week.  The  quality of water in Caldwell is something we have come to expect.  We have some of the best drinking water I have ever encountered in all of the places I have visited or lived.

Wells all over the valley serving small rural communities are fraught with all manner of chemical and/or bacterial problems.  It may look like water but chemical/biological tests tell another story.  The Federal Govt. sets primary drinking water standards for all states and they are required to comply with these standards, in additions some states have secondary standards that are over and above primary Federal Drinking Water Standards.

We are using water that is millions of years old in Caldwell and once used the aquifer is depleted by the amount drawn out.  Problems we are not addressing as a community is using potable water to keep lawns green.  We should be taking steps to use irrigation water 100%  for outdoor uses.  Most of the newer homes have this water available but where I live I have no option but to use city potable water to keep my trees and lawn watered.

It would seem reasonable to form LID's where potable water is used for irrigation and get this changed over just as a matter of saving drinking water for future generations.

5 comments:

  1. I think that the city should also place the fire hydrants on some kind of pressurized pump system from the canals, Indian creek, and river versus the potable water system like they have now.

    I do know that Twin Falls and the College of Southern Idaho converted the College irrigation and College hydrant systems to a pump on demand from the Perinne Coulee thus saving potable water and money.

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    Replies
    1. That is one of those ideas that sounds great in theory however I think you need to weight cost vs. benefit.

      What the fire department uses that comes out of the fire hydrants annually is actually not a whole lot in the big scheme of things. The cost of restructuring the whole system, installing filtering systems etc so the equipment doesn't get damaged and so on would cost far more than it's worth to do that. In short it's not worth the headache.

      Now ensuring all public parks are on irrigation systems and not sprinklers on city water and other ideas like that sound good. Switching all toilets in public buildings to water efficient flush systems also sounds like a good idea too.

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    2. I'll throw a trivia question out for your consideration.
      Where did the term fire plug come from?

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    3. There is more on this on Wikipedia....
      Fire Plug has to do with a hole put into municipal water mains. The hole subsequently filled a hastily dug hole and fire engines would use the water to douse a fire. The hole was "plugged" with a redwood plug.

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    4. The way I heard the story was that it started in Paris France. Their water system was a system of wooden pipes that layed on top of the ground. When they needed water to put out a fire they would bore a hole in the pipe insert a bung to acess water and then drive in a wooden plug to plug the hole when done. These were called fireplugs

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