Re: Sustainable Landscapes?

Michael, my conditions here in Oregon are quite different although we get virtually no rain from July - October. I've lived part-time in Mexico in the Baja desert for some time and water there is trucked in and paid for by the gallon so is very precious. We have so little rain there that a rain capture system is virtually useless. A small above ground pump brings the water into the house from a 2,500 gallon concrete block cistern. I had mostly a cactus garden but also had some citrus and a few other fruit trees and a few ornamental vines and shrubs. We used grey water in the garden but there were no rules or regulations to be dealt with. As for running the shower or sink til it heats, we would use a dishpan or bucket to save that water for the garden. Even with an on-demand water heater, we'd still have some cold water that would otherwise go to waste. 

Sheila Maier
Willamette Valley, Oregon (USDA 8, Sunset 5)

Michael Vella wrote:

Thanks for suggesting a discussion or sustainable landscaping.
I use California native plants because I love them, but also because once established they are often drought tolerant. When I bought my house it had a much larger lawn area than it does now, and slowly I am replacing the lawn with borders and beds of California native plants. My garden is planned for the long term, so small trees will continue to grow while the sun loving bushes that do well beside them now, will eventually mature and die as the trees mature and overgrow them and shade those places. I hope to water less and less as the garden matures, the trees establish, the shade increases, etc.
I also looked into using grey water, wanting to partially re-plumb my house, but I have run into barriers of administrative sorts. Our county encourages water conservation but then when I tried to get going on using grey water I was discouraged from pursuing it.
One big one seems to be California's regulations on effluents and local health departments. I think, but I could be wrong. I was advised that such grey water could only be used in underground drip systems with no surface distribution, that kind of thing. I haven't abandoned the idea yet.
I have a septic tank currently, that eventually will be replaced with s sewer hookup, and I am hoping to use the septic as a cistern, leaving it in place, for rain water catch, and eventual garden irrigation. But doing this presents problems too.
Anyone with advice on the kind of irrigation system that might address grey water issues above, as well as be best for mediterranean plants in terms of aridity loving plants and sustainability, let's hear it.
I am redoing an old system right now, and trying to decide what sorts of dispersal I need and want. Maybe there's a way to set it up so I can use grey water AND nurture the long term garden plants.
[A thought I had the other day was regarding these big monster homes one sees going up in California to replace single story ranches and California bungalows (this in itself is a sorry state of affairs) where a second story bathroom has to run water for five minutes before hot water arrives. There should be regulations that if a bathroom is X number of feet (and once again I am especially thinking of these monster homes gobbling up the state I am native too) it must have point of use water heaters. My own modest house has a water heater at one end of the house, and bathrooms at the other end and each time I take a shower I have to run the water down the drain until warm water arrives. What a waste. (In France they have had chauffe-eau for decades and decades.) I am working on putting those small water heaters in each bathroom, to conserve both water and gas.]
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