Water Conservation Tips

Can I improve my toilet rather than throwing it away?

The short answer is yes, you can. I am a big fan of minimizing the amount of waste that goes into our local landfills. There are plenty of “do it yourself tricks” out there that can be more trouble than benefit. The good news is there are simple, effective, affordable options for improving the efficiency of your existing toilet. First let’s look at a couple things to consider;

1) If your current toilet uses more than 3.5 gallons of water per flush it’s probably best to go ahead and replace the whole toilet. You will recover the cost of buying a new toilet pretty quickly by replacing that old water monger, so just get rid of it.

2) If you have a pressured assist toilet it can not be modified.

One of the easiest ways to improve the water efficiency of a toilet is by converting it to a dual flush. I know this sounds complicated but trust me, it's not. The DualFlush Pro toilet conversion kit makes this easy to do and cost’s less than $55. This kit comes with everything you need to turn your existing toilet into a Dual Flush water saver, high efficiency toilet in about thirty minutes. 
The handle incorporates a dual function; push the lever one way for ½ flush to remove liquid waste or the other way for full flush to remove solid waste.
For a typical 1.6 gallon per flush toilet the kit is pretty much set up right out of the box to provide the expected 0.8 gallon half flush and 1.6 gallon full flush. Not all toilets are created equal. Some models will require some minor adjustments to the factory settings. These adjustments are simple with the Dual Flush Pro kit.


AP

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AquaPro@AskaquaPro.com 


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Catastophic Failure of Asheville Water Line?

Are sections of Asheville's 130 year old water distribution system at risk of a catastrophic failure? Although it is possible it is highly unlikely.
I have received several inquiries in response to a post from a couple weeks ago so it seems a follow up would be appropriate. The chronic water main leak that was the topic of my blog post seems to have raised some concerns about the condition of the system. The attached video is of my most recent inspection on February 19, 2010.
 
As reported in my initial post this leak has been reoccurring over at least a six year period that I have been aware of it. At times the leak has been significantly greater than its current rate of approximately 200,000 gallons per year. As you can see in the video it has leaked aggressively enough and long enough to have eroded away a section of the earthen bank and large root structure of a tree directly in the spray path of the leak.  

The original water system in Asheville dates from the 1880s when Asheville constructed a reservoir on Beaucatcher Mountain, collecting water from various springs and branches. Pipes were laid and unfiltered water distributed by gravity flowed down into the town. The distribution system currently consists of approximately 1600 miles of piping, 32 pumping stations and 27 reservoirs. Some sections of the system are indeed very old. The leak that I refer to is from an exposed joint in a section of 24" diameter cast iron pipe with Lead packed joints. This is one of three primary transmission lines that feed from either the North Fork or Beetree reservoir.

Although Asheville water maintenance is aware of the leak and responds quickly to reports of an increase in the flow rate, repairs typically only last than a few weeks to a couple months.
This is by no means a unique condition. The probability of water distribution infrastructure failure is a growing concern throughout the country. I can assure that this leak in the Swannanoa valley is not the only one on the Asheville system nor is it the worst leak. It is however, visible; and thereby presents a consistent reminder of the need for greater attention to a very real problem that is not typically on the minds of most people.

Asheville has an annual budget of 5.8 million dollars for water system maintenance and improvements. The budget funds are derived from taxes and fees charged to commercial and residential water customers.

This past fall I had an opportunity to visit with Mayor Bellamy while attending the grand opening celebration of the Aqua Environmental Resource Center in West Asheville. Mayor Bellamy is a strong advocate for improving water efficiency throughout the region. I look forward to working with her further in developing community awareness programs.

Repairing the leak in Swannanoa would be quite an undertaking to say the least. I'd like to think this leak will be corrected in the near future, but after six years of monitoring, it doesn't seem to be a priority. I hope it doesn't take a catastrophic failure to become one. 

AP

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AquaPro@AskaquaPro.com 

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Hello Asheville; Hows the water?

Hello Asheville. I begin my AskAsheville blogging adventure with the hopes of providing readers with useful information and insights of value on a subject that has been my passion for many years; Fresh Water. Fresh water throughout Asheville is distributed, for the most part via three primary transmission lines; 16”, 24” & 36”. They are fed from two reservoirs; North Fork and Bee Tree. Some of this system is pretty close to 100 years old.

The picture below is of a leak on one of these primary lines. Granted the entire system has a lot of leaks, some of which are greater than this one. This one is unique in that the line surfaces in some local woods between Black Mountain & Asheville and that it has been leaking for a long time. I first came across this leak almost 6 years ago. This leak has been reported to and investigated by the Asheville Water Maintenance Department several times at my request.

I have recently calculated the measurable flow rate of this leak at approximately ½ gallon per minute. By measurable I mean what I can catch in a receptacle; which is clearly not all of what is leaking from the joint of this pipe. The loss of water from this leak alone calculates to at least 262,800 gallons per year! OMG!

Call me strange but these are the kinds of things that keep me awake at night. Maybe I can open a water bottling company and send this water to places in the world where they need and appreciate the value of Fresh Water?

Wait, did i say bottled water? Now that’s a whole n’other topic we’ll delve into later.

Regards y’all,
AquaPro

AquaPro@AskAquaPro.com
http://www.askaquapro.com/

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