Re: Cult-water
Colleen,
I've read of your visit with the man from Arizona and his irrigation costs. For the sake of clarification: this is true for some areas of Arizona but not for all. Specifically, irrigation is provided to many residents of central Arizona who reside on land which was previously used for farming. This irrigation water is provided by the Salt River Project and comes from a series of five or six man-made lakes upstream on the Salt and Gila Rivers. It was a massive federal government project in the 1930's designed to assure a continual supply of water to our desert communities. Many of the
residents of Phoenix and surrounding areas live in areas not served by this project. To put your thoughts to rest, as an iris gardener on a standard
residential lot, my bills for watering approach $200 per month during the summer months. I too, envy those with inexpensive irrigation. Most Phoenix residents do not have access to this type of irrigation/water supply.
Jeffrey J. Kurtzeman
Phoenix AZ AIS Region 15
Colleen Modra wrote:
> Hi
>
> Just returned from Perth (where it was nice and warm) to very cold South Aust. On the way to the airport, I was travelling with a nice man from Arizona and we got to discussing gardens and water supply. I was stunned when he told me that he only paid $100 p.a. to flood irrigate his one and a half acres, once a week in summer and once a month in winter. Yes, the aquifers were dropping, yes, there was a salinity problem, but that was all they paid for water, so no-one put in micro-irrigation systems. He said that all the irrigation(crop and home) was flood irrigation. Is this a common situation in other parts of the USA? In Aust most people on town supply would pay about $350 a quarter for water and if they had a large garden, then also about $500-$1000 in excess water as well. Water conservation is heavily promoted here. We are fortunate that we have a bore, albeit a bit salty so we can't overuse it.
>
> Just curious about how others manage water supply
>
> Colleen Modra South Oz Zone8
> Where All American is still looking stunning despite the weather.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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> Old school buds here:
> http://click.egroups.com/1/4057/0/_/486170/_/960010164/
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