That's all well-and-good, but what if we really wanted to go all out with urban agriculture? As always, the Internet provides a wealth of learning opportunities.
For example, it turns out that California has some very advanced graywater legislation on the books. That's because, going forward, chronic water shortages will be a reality. The population, the development, the trashing of aquifers, the infiltration of nitrates into wells... all add up to a sobering sum. The Venerable Friendly One is pleasantly surprised to learn that Politics As Usual could actually take a back seat to getting something done about a serious problem. I suppose the fact that the CA Legislature was able to get something done is testament to the severity of the problem.
One wonders (only a little, actually) if the folks in Sacramento would have been able to get graywater systems legalized in CA if water supplies had been privatized as many on the Wingnut Fringe demand. Actually, I have no doubt that action would have been suppressed had the profit motive been present. ButYouAlreadyKnewThatDidn'tYou?
Factoid: 20% of all the electricity used in CA is used to move water around (i.e. water pumps)! I think that's due to the CA aqueduct, but Holy Guacamole, that's a lot of electricity... So water use ties directly into energy use!
We have friends and family in San Luis Obispo and we wondered about the water situation there. Angel googled "San Luis Obispo graywater" and got some interesting hits. In particular, she found a very nice PDF that describes various graywater systems, how they work, how much maintenance they require, and their relative cost.
Wherever you live, the Old Amigo thinks it's good reading.
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