Uh, yes. I'm with you on the pool thing scotland!

Barrels can be purchased here: http://www.advancedrum.com/

Pre-made rainbarrels can be purchased from Village Hardware on Glenwood between Flat Shoals and Moreland.

GGG

vegetable gardens can still be watered as normal. (walter Reeves web site)

It WILL rain again. It WILL rain again. It Will rain again.

It just burns my @$$ when I see commercial properties watering; spray up into the air at 11AM.

Why do they permit folks to plant fescue here when they know it's a cool weather turf?

It took me a while to find the info on Walter Reeves site, but I finally did. He had a link to the Atlanta Watershed Management site containing the ban *and* exceptions. My veggies are saved...for now. And the peony, which is tucked in between a squash and the eggplants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Atlanta Watershed Management

Considering all of the water main breaks they have up there in Atlanta, I'm surprised they have waited this long to tighten water restrictions. Just think of all the gardens that could have been watered with the water that wound up flowing down the Hooche.

Now, we will all learn to put our veggies right in the flower garden right? Or plant flowers in the veggie garden :)

And RAIN BARRELS or cisterns in the hardscape.
I found oodles of companies in Texas who make all sorts of containers for cisterns. I've been wanting one bad. It takes skill to meld a large external cistern into the landscape.

GGG

According to that Atlanta Watershed list, commercial properties should not be watering any more than homeowners (except for water-based businesses). It just aggravates me to no end when a gas station is watering during the day, and I can't!

Alex,
In regards to your fescue comment. I have fescue. It is in a shaded area it survives just fine on an inch or less of water per week. What dies during the heat, reseeds during the fall.

It's not the type of grass...it's the type of intelligent and environmentally sound home owner.

"Why do they permit folks to plant fescue here when they know it's a cool weather turf?"

Because the warm season grasses only green for 5 months of the year... is that acceptable? And they'll be brown too if you don't water them.

If the water depts want to restrict usage their best bet it to raise rates. Water is dirt cheap here compared to other parts of the country and I don't have reservations about using it to water the lawn but that wouldn't be the case if I lived elsewhere.

The Blue Collar Gardeners(podcast) did a show a few weeks ago on rain and gray water collection. They talked about basic rain barrels as well as larger systems, might be worth checking out. I've been watering most of my container plants with the drain from my A/C and dehumidifier.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Collar Gardeners

I still think that part of the problem is that we only seem to restrict by time of day and not by quantity. If you have the ability to program sprinklers and water by the time of day rules then you get to use however much you want. Doesn't anyone in power see anything wrong in that?

There was an article in the paper today about nurseries and landscapers trying to help people understand they can still plant (and that newly installed landscapes can be watered for 30 days - oh big whoop). But I haven't seen anything about whether irrigation systems companies are getting a lot of business so that more people can have programmable sprinklers.

There's just too many variables. Too many ways to violate the law or think you're in compliance but are actually not but nobody really knows since the rules don't outline every scenario. Like I said, start charging more and eventually people will start to be more mindful about using it. They could adjust the rates depending on the drought conditions.

Honestly, I don't know that charging more will make people become more conscientious of their water useage. Look at gas prices. They're out of control and all it's done is make people complain about it, not be more conservative of it. I actually heard one guy on the news this morning complaining about the price of gas for his boat up at Lake Lanier, and said "I guess we'll just have to cut back in other places...like food." Crazy folks.

Touche. I knew someone was going to use the gas prices example and blow a hole in my argument :-)

I still believe it would help though. People can help conserving water but people have to get to work. They don't necessarily have to fill their boats but ya know if you got a boat, might as well use it! If gas gets to $5.50 a gal then perhaps lifestyles will begin to change. Many debates to predict when/if.

And as sad as it is to say this, I really think cutting back spending in other places might alert our government to a problem. It's not just at the pump but in many things you buy effected by oil prices. Like stuff made out of plastics.

So drive all you want just don't have any more gross expenditures than you did in 2002. We'll have a depression in no time.

Or the thing that is getting me right now is the no outside cleaning at all. I can hire someone to power wash, but I can't do it myself. So I can't restain my daughter's playground unless I want to pay someone to power wash it for me even though I have a power washer and can do it myself just fine. That seems ridiculous to me. I know they can't deprive the power washing guys of their livelihood, but the can deprive me of my hard earned money. Meanwhile I have neighbors who put the sprinkler out at midnight and leave it going half the night in the same spot.

Gwinnett charges more for water during the summer. If you use 125 percent more than you used in the winter, you pay the higher rate. (I think this is right - don't quote me though.) That seems reasonable.

Now, if I can only remember to use extra water during the winter, LOL!

Twinkle, You could use more water during the winter to fill some rain barrels or cistern. And then sell it to others at a 12% markup! :-)

Thanks wormfishin' for that link. Unfortunately, we are a little back assward in GA. I guess we had water all we wanted for a time and now it's dried up, the gov't hasn't moved on OK-ing grey water systems. As a matter of fact, I heard they are interested in restricting rain barrel and rain collection in a heavy ban, so you wouldn't be able to use captured water either, which is just plain silly.
We need to get up to speed with Texas, and do it fast.
I do not have my air conditioning on yet. We are trying hard to avoid putting it on here as that is water money from the faucet...and our air conditioning in our other home (I know that sounds weird) is off for construction reasons. So no free water that way. I can get 3 gallons a day from air conditioning water. I may ask my neighbors to gather some for me :)

GGG

What do they have against us using captured water, I wonder? I have a dehumidifier and a window AC. What am I supposed to do with them if they do this? Dump them down the drain?!

Grr...I have a moderately large bonsai and potted plant collection. Being concerned about keeping it alive, I asked the water company here in Cobb what are the rules for potted plants, if they go to the same once-a-week watering as Fulton County. Answer: The ban will apply to all outdoor plants except vegetable gardens, and a few other minor exemptions, (but not to my 'ornamental' plants). Her solution - take them inside and water them there instead. Duh! - how does that save water? What difference does it make - indoors or out - as the water comes through the same meter???? Bureaucracy!

The current ban here (Outdoors alternate days except Friday and only from midnight to 10AM), means you can take showers and do laundry and dishes all day long everyday, but you can't water something to keep it alive! A little BO never killed anyone - skip the shower on your days off.

Some of my bonsai have hours and hours of care and maintainence invested in them, I'm not going to kill them because of some poorly planned Gestapo regulations, but I guess I may be needing Doans Pills before the summer is out for my back.

Why don't they just ban all lawn watering, period, but leave beds and pots alone. The grass will go a nice shade of brown, as it is naturally supposed to do at this time of year, and it will green up in a day or two once natural rain comes back.

"What do they have against us using captured water, I wonder? I have a dehumidifier and a window AC. What am I supposed to do with them if they do this? Dump them down the drain?!"

They prohibit harvesting rainwater in some places out west. The thinking there is that rain water or water from whatever other source belongs to the utility. If you do something to keep that water, you're stealing it. They want you to let it go into the ground. Or course if you using it for irrigation, it's going into the ground anyway. I didn't say it made sense.

"What difference does it make - indoors or out - as the water comes through the same meter???? Bureaucracy!"

This is the kind of variable and technicality I was talking about that makes the legislation pointless. Sure you can take all your container garden inside and water it. This also means you can take your car in the garage and water it there LOL. Or maybe You can put hose-end impact sprinlers inside your home and point them out the window. How about that? Does that count? Techinically you're watering indoors but some of the water is going out the window.

"...and it will green up in a day or two once natural rain comes back."
This isn't necessarily true. Last summer when we went 30+ days without a drop here I had a lot of grass die and not come back. A week or two without water is one thing but high temps, low humidity, full sun and a month or more without much rain and you can kiss it goodbye.

I wonder if I keep buying grass seed and save my receipts if I can say whoa officer but it's new plant material.

This will not be a popular observation judging from the pet peeves thread, but I found during the eighties droughts that if you let your grass grow longer, even let it go to seed before cutting it, it will tend to shade the roots and the plants will go dormant. Even when it turns brown it still lives and will come back with the first rains. For example, we haven't had a drop in well over a month, I haven't watered the grass and when I broke down and cut it (where it was long) today it was still fairly green. Those areas which stayed short are about to blow away in clouds of dust.

I only had to completely lose two lawns to learn this and it has worked very well for me since...though the neighbors have never been very happy about it!

BTW; Last night I caught the weatherman hoping for hurricanes or tropical storms! AND, from tonight's weather report, it appears that a tropical storm is moving north from the Gulf right now!

not sure what kind of grass you have, but letting Bermuda grass get long means that when you do cut it, it will be brown underneath. Of course we haven't had to cut our lawn since it hasn't been growing much.

Way back when we lived in Decatur we had a fescue lawn, which was kept an electric green by Chemlawn and daily watering. Hundreds of dollars per year and it blew away in the droughts!

Since then I have subscribed to the "if it's green, I'll take it" school of thought. We now have a mixture of centipede, bermuda, fescue and clover. Mainly what I was talking about was the fescue, however. It really seems happier without the stimulation to grow provided by weekly mowing and seems to live longer as a consequence. The only "reseeding" I ever do now is to take the bagger off of the lawnmower when we get a nice crop of seed.

This probably isn't a good strategy for those of you who live in neighborhoods with uptight neighbors, but it is a godsend in times of drought out here in the country!

What irritates me is the people who continue to mow their lawns down to the ground (trying to emulate a golf course?) and then proceed to water whenever for however long. I was somewhat distressed that once the watering ban had been announced our Homeowner's Assoc pres put more emphasis on a neat and trimmed yard then on the conservation of water. In fact he announced that lawns were going to be "policed". How about policing the water usage?!!

Oh my God, the lawn police! Really, haven't these people got lives?

The bermuda grass really needs to be cut short drought or no drought. (As does centipede and zoysia) It's pretty drought tolerant though and the roots eventually get very deep. It is also virtually impossible to get rid of once it's been there a while. So even if you lose some to drought it recovers quickly and fills in the bare spots on it's own with it's creeping habit.

Cool season grasses on the other hand can benefit from raising the height during the summer although not cutting it altogether is a bad idea.

Having a decent lawn doesn't require chemlawn or any of those. Simply follow good cultural practices and said practices are published by the UGA at www.georgiaturf.com or you can call them up and have them mail you some pamphlets.

You'll find that what is suggested for any of the popular lawn grass is deep and infrequent watering. This means waiting until the first signs of drought stress to begin watering. Symptoms include the grass taking on a blue/greyish color and remaining pressed down after you step on it. Watering to an inch a week during a week with no rain would easily take an hour or longer for most sprinkler setups. You want to early early in the morning if you can and you want to avoid watering in the evening as the last thing you want is the grass to sit there wet all night. That can spell disease for your lawn.

I went out to get in my car and could smell rain. Then I heard thunder. Then the sky darkened and we got a lot of thunder and lightening. The smell of rain was very strong. Now the sun is shining in my yard, I can hear thunder in the distance, and I never got rain. It rained so close to me that I could smell it, yet didn't get any. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!

Just collected over 180 gallons of nice, soft, fresh rain water in a passing thunder storm. HURRAY RAIN BARRELS!

Will be taking a demonstration rain barrel to the East Atlanta Farmers market on Thursday. They are easy to make. I can tell you EXACTLY what you need to make the type of barrels from Advanced drum.

I also have the tools. If you'd like, we could also all meet one day and have a make a rain barrel day. That would depend on the ability of someone to pick up an order of the rain barrels. I would, but I don't drive so I can't!!!

GGG

I got a tad of rain from a brief, heavy shower(thunder and lightning too) between 4 and 4:30pm. 0.04" to be exact, which brings my grand total over the last 24 days to 0.09"! This was the first measurable rain I've had since May 16. Now, I guess, the real heat, with humidity, will kick in and make it doubly tough! I wouldn't be surprised to see a total ban enacted if this goes on much longer.

I hear you Quirkyquercus, there is an ideal management plan for lawn care and chemlawn isn't really necessary. I will also admit that zoysia does have to be kept relatively short. But I have to say that the "method" I described for fescue, centipede and bermuda works better than any other I have tried.

I have read about all of the good cultural practices necessary to maintain a lawn, and I have to say that I have yet to see the expert who can tell me how to REALISTICALLY maintain ACRES of lawn during a level three drought with water restrictions of any sort whatsoever. The centipede and bermuda turned brown weeks ago, and some of it has already blown away...the only green we have left is from where the fescue was left long and was just recently cut...and that only because of the threat of fires!

Just keeping the newly planted bushes and trees alive appears to be the best I can hope for unless we can get some decent rain.

BTW, Haralson and Heard just implemented a total outdoor watering ban. Coincidentally (?), Alabama Power and the Rome wastewater treatment facility have requested water discharges from Allatoona to raise the river levels out here...can the rest of us be far behind? Get your watering done while you can!

Nippersdad, maintaining acres of grass is something that doesn't make sense to a lot of people. Unless you've got livestock, why not just let the land revert back to natural habitat? Keep a small patch for a lawn.
As for chemlawn, has anyone ever driven by their office and taken a look at the lawn outside their office? You'd think more people would do this before signing up for their services.

GGG- How much does it cost to make a rainbarrel the way you did it? I have a 100 gallon poly tank with all the plumbing. At the time I got the tank it was only about $50-60 with the connectors or so and was actually fedex-able and even that wasn't too costly cosidering the dimensional weight was surely up there. But now with the rising petroleum prices all the poly tanks and cisterns are through the roof and of course so are shipping rates. The rainbarrell get together sounds like a good idea.

It is hard to figure out the cost of the barrel exactly, since I bought some of the stuff in bulk and had a few things laying around. I would say that each one costs less than $40 but I did use more expensive hosing to join barrels and for the overflow because we just couldn't find the correct connectors and hose any other way in stock at the time. The barrel itself is $18 - maybe about $35 each not including cinder block to place them on!

GGG

Hello Quirky quercus:
I agree, that is why I have planted so many trees and bushes; the very ones that I am presently staying up all night watering instead of the lawn. There is a period of years between when they are planted and when one has sufficient cover to prevent the inevitable sea of privets, Kudzu and bamboo, there is no longer any such thing as reversion to a natural habitat in one as degraded as the ones we presently have to deal with. This is one of the reasons that developers used to plant Elms and now plant Leyland Cypress and Willow Oaks as opposed to Franklinia Altamaha, Blackgum, Carolina Silverbell or White Oaks; they grow fast. Hence, the maintenance of an admittedly ridiculous lawn.

Was researching greywater recycling equipment today...apparently the reason that it is so frowned upon is because if it is not used immediately (within three hours) the bacteria in it multiplies enormously and forms a health risk. It is apparently dangerous to aerosolize it (is that a word?)in sprinklers as it could easily be inhaled. Shouldn't be used on either grass or edibles, also for health reasons.

The preferred method is to filter out the solids and grease (fibers from the washer and grease from soaps and washing dishes, etc.) and then use soaker hoses under mulch for trees and bushes which do not require an acid PH (the soaps make the water, and thus the soil, alkaline). Soil organisms then neutralize any "bad" bacteria. It works exactly like a septic tank without the large tank, because there are no solids to decompose or liquids to store.

Health departments just don't want to have to deal with the plethora of ways that bacteria could affect/infect people from improper or improperly maintained systems.

There were several books on it and a gravity system that started at $600. Sounded really good if one could do one's own plumbing!

Well I guess I am getting on the boat. We live in Carroll county which is now under a 100% ban on outdoor watering. I've contacted advance drum to ask them about their large tote tanks. It so rubs me the wrong way to be told what I can and cant do. We are fortunate enough to live in a split level home where the plumbing for both bath tubs is exposed in the garage and would be above grade for most of our property so gravity feed into a tanks and out of the tank into the yard should be possible, a few adaptations and we would be all set. We are on a septic tank too it would be easy to set the overflow from the tank to just go back to the septic system. I plan on calling the Dept Of Environmental Health on Monday to find out what legal restrictions they may have but as far as I am concerned they can go hang. I'll be collecting rainwater at the very least whether they like it or not. If I have to get a well dug then I may just do that. As it is now my home is on a heavily trafficked rural road and my lawn is a fire hazard.

Lawn is a fire hazard.... now that is a good one.
:-)

I'm planning on a grey water system. There is a company in Atlanta that specializes in them. I think I want a tank for collection, that then goes into a pond plant and rock filtration system outside before circulating into the garden. It would be pretty was well as functional.

GGG

But do the bans allow for irrigation with gray water? Especially here in Gwin where we put our treated.... water back where we get our drinking water.

Hello Rahlquist:

I hear you about the fire hazard lawn...I got most of mine cut but have yet to force myself to do the lovely, deep ditches that the Carroll County Roads Department so thoughtfully gave us. The nice thing is that when it does rain they hold water wonderfully!

I have been planning a homemade system out of stuff from Target and the Home Depot today...it will probably be ugly as sin, but comparatively cheap. Those tanks are a fortune!

Please drop us a line on what the Health Department says.

@ quirkyquercus
dunno about Gwin, the rules may be different for septic systems and city sewer. For me it either will be going under my back lawn into my leech field (the only green part of my lawn now) or it can go on top and water some flowers too.

@nippersdad
Amen on the ditches, my lot happens to have a natural eastward down slope so on the west side of my property the front meets the road at grade and on the opposite side its about 12-13 feet below the road. Mowing it is... an adventure? I stand in the road and let the push mower slide down the slope. Since the road is double blind (hills in it 60 feet in either direction) it makes for some fun moments.

I will definitely be posting the results of my call but people outside Carroll county should note, Carroll county has its own water authority and the rules here may be different than in Douglas or Fulton.

Another link that may be of use is;
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.northgeorgiawater.com%2Ffiles%2Fww_t6.pdf&ei=V8VsRrikAqf2qwLJ07X2Dw&usg=AFQjCNHctrSjCW3pQanMA-OH-5v5Wdt2lg&sig2=bDMQwfF2yLlnGaZu710IkA

It has some information in it and states;
"Urban water reuse is covered by the Guidelines for Water Reclamation and Urban Water Reuse
established by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) in February 2002"

Here is a link that might be useful: Greywater info.

Rahlquist: You win by a mile...your ditches sound like a nightmare!

You might want to print out what ever you find for insurance...Bob Barr and his crew let a developer bury a house in my (former) well's input area. As I was saying then, there may come a time when I might need it...They not only do not know the law, they actively break it. Can you believe that he is now, apparently, one of the muckety mucks for water conservation?

Well can that idea. Just got off the phone with the dept of environmental health (at(770) 836 6781) and they shut me down from the giddyup. They stated that I cannot reuse my grey water that it all has to go into my septic system. I'll probably follow up with them to get what laws that is in writing so that I can complain to the local government but for the time being it looks like basically you can forget it in Carroll county.

Its a shame too because I contacted the Carroll County Water Authority and they said it was fine. Here is a quote from the email.

"Good morning Richard. The exemptions are stated below.
This rule (outdoor watering ban) shall not apply to the following outdoor
water uses:
(a) Capture and reuse of cooling system condensate or storm water in
compliance with applicable local ordinances
(b) Re-use of gray water in compliance with applicable local ordinances

I hope this answers your question. If not please feel free to call
xxxxx ext xx and I'll do my best to interpret the regs. The short
answer is gray water and storm water are fine. Have a great week. "

So I guess I'll just have to figure something else out. Its sad too, my wife and I just got back from Disney World and while driving through their property there were signs posted not to drink sprinkler water as it was reclaimed water.

So which is more Mickey Mouse our laws or Disney?

Interesting...it's usually the other way around. The state law is usually more progressive (though unobseved) than the local practice.

I think the issue of reusing grey water goes back to what nippersdad said earlier in this thread:

Was researching greywater recycling equipment today...apparently the reason that it is so frowned upon is because if it is not used immediately (within three hours) the bacteria in it multiplies enormously and forms a health risk. It is apparently dangerous to aerosolize it (is that a word?)in sprinklers as it could easily be inhaled. Shouldn't be used on either grass or edibles, also for health reasons.

Notice, rahlquist, that you got the "No grey water" message from the environmental HEALTH department. I'm sure they are worried about bacteria growth or something like that.

@esh_ga,

You are probably right, and i cant knock them (dept of env health) 100% because they came to my aid last year when my neighbors septic system started overflowing into my yard (turned out my lot used to be part of their property until it was subdivided and 90% of their leech field was in my lot! they were doubly upset when they had to install an uphill pumping system).

I just think its awful shortsighted to simply tell us no without putting a process in place to make the use possible. I was surfing grewater.com or greywater.net last night and they had similar info about storing it for too long. I have no problem using it immediately and could probably install a system with the needed surge tank and proper plumbing but they wouldn't even discuss that.

I understand drinking water is more important, but so are our investments in keeping the property that makes up Carroll county and keep its valuable. For now though it is looking like the only possible routes are wells and the CCWA may not agree with that?

You shouldn't have any trouble with the CCWA about boring a well. I spoke with Adams-Massey last week and they say that they are doing a booming business.

I saw a sign in a Home Depot Landscaping store that said watering was allowed every day for 30 days for anything newly planted.

I tried to verify that response you got from home depot the other day for my own cusriosity and found no mention other than for new landscapes in unoccupied homes. You are however, allowed to water a new plant on the day a plant is installed no matter the day or time. After that they go to your regular watering schedule and for state-wide level two drought it is even and odd with no Fridays unless otherwise restricted by the county or city, like good ole Fulton County. Maybe if Fulton didn't have ten carwashes per square mile........