Re: Piped in Water, Anyone?

**"Lenny Librizzi" l*@cenyc.org**

Key reasons for sticking with municipal water:
-	Supports the local economy
-	You get those nice mailings from the water company, and then you
get to send them money
-	You provide a major public service for the guys who like to stop
by the garden to wash their cars
-	Bonus to above - sometimes you even get the added fertility
advantage of having detergent sprayed on your plants and soil.
-	It's really hard to keep a sprinkler going out of a rain barrel
unless the barrel is on somebody's roof
-	Addendum to above - how are you supposed to run your sprinkler
for 12 hours in one place out of a 50 gallon drum?
-	If somebody leaves the rain barrel spigot on, you might run out
of water.  With municipal water, it almost never runs out.
-	It's really hard to get good flow in a 150 foot long irrigation
ditch with a rain barrel.  You really need better pressure.
-	Brass faucets provide a much better target for the local
recyclers than those cheesy PVC valves.
-	When somebody breaks a water line from a rain barrel, you just
get a leak.  With good municipal water pressure you can get something
really spectacular.

Ha!  You think this is funny?  We've seen it all.

Jack N. Hale
Executive Director
Knox Parks Foundation
75 Laurel Street
Hartford, CT 06106
860/951-7694

-----Original Message-----
From: community_garden-admin@mallorn.com
[community_garden-admin@mallorn.com] On Behalf Of Sandy Pernitz
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 3:15 PM
To: community_garden@mallorn.com
Subject: Re: [cg] Piped in Water, Anyone?

Ok now I have to chime in...all our gardens have municipal water sources
but collecting water has benefits you can't get from a municipal water
source.  One of the big ones no chlorine and a warmer temperature which
the plants love.  Lets think about our water like we think about our
soil...we love our soil and feed it, collected rainwater helps feed the
soil.  Now I know we don't find diapers on our roofs and don't have as
much industry so testing in a major city like New York would be good
too.

The follow is something written for a series of rainbarrels in one of
our gardens.

We have been doing some testing of collected water in plastic barrels
and metal cisterns and have found all water safe for plants.  From what
I have been able to find out, it is new plastic barrels that pose the
most leaching but that changes over time.  It sounds to me like most of
you are using food grade barrels that are poly based.  I would be more
concerned with using the PVC parts which is shown to have serious
leaching possibilities and is extremely bad for the environment and
those producing it in production.

So collect away!!!! I would still LOVE to see those water towers on
your roofs in NYC with big funnels to collect water and pipe down to
gardens and for flushing toilets to name a few uses!

Education:
WHAT IS YOUR ECOLOGICAL ADDRESS?
GET TO KNOW THE WATERSHED YOU LIVE, WORK AND GARDEN IN

Water Conservation
Conservation is the most cost-effective source of water supply for our
region.  And even with new sources being added in the future, we still
need to use water efficiently to ensure a sustainable supply.  Every
drop counts.

Water Quality
(Another great thing to mention that I did not is that organic
gardening has a direct impact on "water quality" issues!)
The paving trend of our urban neighborhoods has been going on for
decades.  It is time for all of us to contribute in anyway we can to
cleanup and conserve our limited water supply.  Storm water goes
directly through the storm drains or over land untreated into Lake
Union.  Street runoff in our concrete urban environment pickup all kinds
of toxic substances on its way to the Lake (litter, oil, gas,
antifreeze, etc.).  Street runoff accounts for significant and
preventable sources of non-point source pollution. We as individuals and
communities can rethink the ways we design and use water.  Systems
collecting and redirecting rainwater can reduce the amount of water
overtaxing our sewer systems and filter water normally wasted on
impervious surfaces naturally back to the water table.  Water collection
systems are one easy, inexpensive way we can all positively effect our
water!

Thanks for your time,
Sandy Pernitz
Community Garden Coordinator
P-Patch Program/Dept. of Neighborhoods
An ancient Chinese philosopher once fell asleep and dreamed he was a
butterfly.  When he awoke, he was no longer certain that's what had
happened.  Perhaps he was just a butterfly dreaming he was a Chinese
philosopher... Chinese parable
We have moved! NEW ADDDRESS
Department of Neighborhoods
700 5th Avenue Suite 1700
PO Box 94649
Seattle, WA 98124-4649
sandy.pernitz@seattle.gov
206-684-0284