Science Question of the Week -- Where Does YOUR Rainwater Go? Part 2
Surface Water Runoff
Weve now managed to chip away at the total rainfall amount by the amount of water that is evaporated, transpired, and soaked into the ground. The remainder of the water becomes surface water runoffthats the water found in streams, rivers, and lakes! The state of Kentucky has more miles of navigable freshwater streams than almost any other state, so for our purposes of understanding watersheds, its a beaut!
But there is more to it, than that, naturally. Lets look at the term Watershed. A watershed is an area that drains into a common stream, lake, river, and/or ocean. Watersheds can be HUGE, (think of the Mississippi River Watershed that drains the central US), or they can be more of a neighborhood watershed. Everyone has a watershed, even on their own property!
No matter where you live, in a house, an apartment, a condo, on a farm, the land around your house has likely been sculpted to drain rainwater away from your house, off your property, and into a drainage ditch, storm sewer, or other artificial means of removing the excess water from your lawn and property. Perhaps your home was built upon a hill, so that natural drainage areas could be used to help the water leave your property.
If you live in a city, like I do, the micro-watershed of your yard has been changed to divert the rainwater from your house and basement. At our house, the rainwater drains away from our house in the front, toward the drainage ditch in front of the house, which follows the road down to a stream. About one fourth of the backyard drains away from the house to a drainage ditch behind our property, which eventually drains intothe samesmall stream. Thats our own micro-watershed that removes excess runoff from our property to a local streamone that only has water in it when it rains. Like as not, your house, condo, or apartment has the same kind of set up that is site-specific.
At our house, in between the front yard and the backyard, there is a divide, a place where the water is diverted from the front yard and house toward the backyards drainage ditch. Our divide is at our tree line in the backyard, about ten feet from our backyard boundary. Rainwater that falls on that area drains toward the back drainage ditch, and everything else drains toward the front drainage ditch.
You can see in the picture above just what a large watershed divide looks like. The Continental Divide along the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains is the line that marks the division between continental watersheds. The Appalachian Continental Divide marks the point at which water either drains general westward toward the Mississippi or eastwards toward the Atlantic Ocean. In the western states, the Continental Divide is the demarcation point where surface water either drains toward the Pacific Ocean or to the Mississippi River.
The drainage for our entire neighborhood is to a small stream that removes excess runoff into a larger stream, which feeds an even larger stream, which feeds a creek, which feeds the Ohio River. All of those areas are their own watershed, which combine to form the Ohio River Watershed. However, that is just in our part of Jefferson County. The rest of the county drains toward the Salt River, which then feeds the Ohio River downstream. Complicated? Not reallywater drains downhill, a simple principle.
Lets look at this, from the micro-watershed of your very own backyard, to larger watershed that dumps into one of the oceans. As an example, Ive picked a place in Louisville that is a part of the Ohio River Watershedsimply because I have access to those topographic maps and can make pictures of them. You can follow along and do the very same thing for your own home. All you need is a topographic map! Topographic maps may be downloaded from the USGS , or may be found in many stores that specialize in maps of your area. Many are available on-line, not for printing, but for looking!
Look at the topographic map of this neighborhood. You can see that the drainage from the piece of property in question is draining downhill, from an elevation of 680 above mean sea level, (msl), to an elevation below 670 msl. The blue flow lines have been modified from normal drainage, based on topography, by the sculpting of the ground surface to build roads, drainage ditches, and underground storm sewers.
The green line represents normal drainage patterns, based solely on topography of the land surface. In many cities, underground storm sewers are a part of the general sewer system, which is called a Combined Sewer. During periods of heavy rainfall, the combined sewers can really represent a problem, because they arent large enough to drain both the regular sewer and the runoff from the hard rainfall. The Combined Sewer Overflowwill back up, with raw sewage and rainwater forming pools in the street, etc.
The next picture shows how the modified drainage from the storm sewers, (blue line), closely follows the natural path of drainage, (green line). Sewer companies arent dumb! The storm water is discharged into a small, dammed lake, located downstream from the neighborhood. Youll notice that the lake that contains the effluent from the storm sewer is attached by a small stream to lakes above it. The stream is represented by a solid blue line on the mapwhich means that it is a perennial streamwater flows through the stream all year round, not just during significant rainfall events. This is, by the way, a beautiful area Swans nest around the lake, and willows overhang the lake, creating a very peaceful, pastoral view.
Storm sewers collect the runoff from the lawns and roads, and in this case, the runoff drains into a surface water body. All this is wonderful, butalso be aware that the storm water runoff also picks up all the lawn care chemicals, lawn care pesticides, salt, road particles, oil drips, etc. and flushes them out of the neighborhood into the lake below. While this doesnt appear to affect the swans and willows very much, every bit of contamination that is also collected with the runoff, adds to the general degradation of the water quality of the streams.
Continuing on our merry little way, the runoff, complete with contaminants such as salt, oil, antifreeze, fertilizers, pesticides, and other junk, ends up in a surface water body. Since this is a dammed lake, it has some time for the particles suspended in the storm water to settle out, covering the bottom of the lake. Eventually, even if it takes many years, the lake will fill with sediments, and will either have to be dredged, or the dam will have to be removed to allow the sediments to continue their journey downstream. Where does the storm water go, after it enters the lake?
From this map, which shows a larger area, you can see that the runoff flows out of the lake, but only intermittently, such as during a significant rainfall event. (Those dashed lines indicate an intermittent stream, which does NOT have water flowing year round.) So, where does the water go? The storm water, along with the overflow from the streams disappears into the ground! It soaks down into sinkholes, and travels through holes in the bedrock, surfacing every now and then as springs, all the way to just before Harrods Creek, where the water flows out of the bedrock as a spring, into a stream, which then feeds Harrods Creek. The intermittent stream has flow only when the amount of rainfall exceeds the amount of water that can easily be drained into the sink holewhich happens about once or twice a year. Most of the time, the runoff just disappears!
MYTH BUSTER Spring water is the best water.
(Insert Woody Woodpecker Laugh, here.) Maybe yes, maybe no. It all depends on the origin of the spring water. In this case, if someone wanted to bottle this spring water, right before it entered Harrods Creek, theyre bottling water that has been contaminated with runoff. Hold onto that thought for the future
Once the water reaches Harrods Creek, it is quickly transported to: The Ohio River. Harrods Creek drains a large area of northeastern Jefferson County, as well as parts of Oldham County. Part of its stream flow is from effluent of many sewer treatment plants. Fortunately, the bottom of the creek is covered with a sticky, black clay-like residue from the sewage treatment plants, so that the effluent/water that comes from the treatment plants cannot enter the groundwater.
So, now you know the answer to the Science Question of the Week -- Where Does the Rainwater Go?
Experiment at Home!
You will need:
- A small bucket of sand, or a package of fine aquarium sand
- A garden hose with no attachment, attached to an outside faucet
- A small shovel or spade, trowel, large spoon
- A lawn
Next time that you have a pretty day outside, and nothing to do, (ha), have some fun with surface water runoff! You can do this with children and grandchildren, but they will want to splash in the water, and the whole point is to let the water flow unimpeded, except where you want to have fun creating dams and things. This works best if you have a lawn like mine, a clump of grass here and there, with a weed or two, and bare dirt between the clumps. Also, it is best to select a spot that is fairly well-drained, and wont form a giant puddle, although puddles are fun, too. Set your garden hose on the ground so that it flows away from your house, and downhill. Place a rock or something else heavy on the end of the hose, so that it doesnt move around much.
Using your shovel, spade, trowel, or large spoon, dig shallow dents in the soil, downstream, so that the water flows into some of the grooves, and doesnt just fan out in a sheet. The grooves dont have to be deep, just a dent. In front of your hose, sprinkle a scoop full of sand. If you really want to have some fun, sprinkle a few more scoopfuls downstream. Barely turn on the hose so that you have a good stream, but there is no pressure to itthe water will meander as it wanders downstream. Now, watch what happens!
The water will meander, forming channels where you have scored the ground, carrying the payload of the stream downstream. Youll notice, eventually, that the stream deposits its payload on the inside of the bends in the stream, and will cut the grooves just a bit deeper on the outside of the bends. There may be places where the stream deposits the sand in a sheet, rather than a hump. You can add dams to divert the water temporarily, make new channels, and all kinds of fun things. You can turn the hose up a little, to mimic flood conditions, or turn it down a little to mimic drought conditions. Add the sand in sprinkles until its all gone, and youre tired and happy!
When it is all over, turn off the hose, and go take a look at your streamyoull see sand bars, humps of sand, places where larger rocks impeded the stream flow, and the water traveled around hummocks of grass and/or weeds. Now, just think for a moment. This is exactly what happens, on a MUCH larger scale, every time a stream, creek, or river flows over the land. You can cover this up with a bit of potting soil, (about ), if you wish. Then, with a straw, go out and drill some holes, and try to find the channels of sand, especially where the sand was deposited in a hummock! Poke the straw into the soil and sand, and, before you dump it out, look to see what you found! Now, youre a geologist, on a small scale!
Thanks for coming by!
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GOLLY! These pictures gave me fits!
I hope this illustrates how you can find out about your very own watershed, right in your back yard, and how it contributes to the overall watershed of which your home is a part.
Take care, and thanks for coming by!
Very nice explanation. I really enjoy the conversational tone which you adopt in your writing. Kudos!
Thank you so much!
I'm trying not to bore people, which is easier said, than done!
Rainwater from central and northern New Mexico flows to the Rio Grande. It isn't all that grande, by the way. The Rio flows south to Texas and a large portion of the water that falls in NM belongs to Texas. The Rio only flows in Texas for maybe 20 miles before it becomes the boarder with Mexico. From there it flows into the Gulf of Mexico at Matamoros, Mexico.
The Continental Divide is just west of here near Grants, NM.
Never realize how important this stuff is until you have too little or too much water. After the flood of '97, truly understanding how our flatter-than-a-pancake landscape floods has helped us figure out how to avoid them in the future. The USGS did extensive work to help us in planning different types of dikes, waffle systems and such, and where to put them.
Nicely done Dowser and thank you!
Nifty, dear Grump!
I've always been lucky to live where there has been plenty of water... The pictures of the Rio Grande that I've seen all these years-- it doesn't look like much. But, it is a small stream compared to its basin and geologic history. Really amazing what it was 10,000 years ago.
That was very interesting about the way the silt gets deposited in a river bend . Does that change when the flow increases ?
Some may get washed away, but some will still catch silt and sediments as the water stills in the flood. As long as there is a decent current, the water doesn't drop much out of suspension. But, if you notice, during a flood, there is always that period of time when the currents stop, the water just stays there, and then it starts to flow out... During that time when the water is sitting, the gunk is deposited in homes, and on the grass, etc.
Once the river begins to go down and move out along the normal channel, it will pick up some of the sediment load that it was carrying, but not much, and carry it back downstream. But, the inner bend of a river will have the finest sediments as the speed of the water is faster on the cutting edge of the current. The cutting edge of the current is what carves into rocks, and the sediments on the bottom are much coarser, since they were deposited in faster water. Does this make sense to you?
The Ohio River, (and many rivers in the northern US), are mere remnants of what they were after the last period of glaciation, when water flowed from the melting glaciers. They are called sediment choked rivers, because their flow is only a fraction of what is left. BUT, these nice river basins, like the White River in Indiana, have boocoos of groundwater in them-- a great resource-- and they are usually recharged well from rainfall.
I can go on and on, if you want... Unfortunately! I've studied this, below the surface, for years and years. If you look at what is happening today, you'll be able to imagine what happened in the past, and can understand how what is REALLY deep, got there.
I dont' mean to bore anyone!
the sediments on the bottom are much coarser, since they were deposited in faster water. Does this make sense to you?
I can easily visualize how the outside of a river bend would get the heavy material because of centrifugal force and momentum . Is that the driving force ?
It's more the force of the current, I think. As the water moves downstream, it is falling, or flowing downgrade.Thewater in the river varies its speed, depending on where you are in the river.
For example,let's say that you have abunch of child's plastic boats, on a long string, and you're on the bank of astraight spot on the river, as in: no bends.Suspend the string of boats over the river, and then drop them all at once, (the string magically disappears), and let them float away, measuring theirspeeds. The boats in the center of the river, wherethe river is deepest and least impeded by the bottom materials, will float by faster than those boats on the sides of the river, where the river is less deep, and has a lot of surface friction from the sides and bottom of the river.
Take that same set-up and go to a river bend. Drop the boats in,and watch the speeds of the boats relative to the shore line. The boats on the outside if the bend will move faster, because the current is stronger, and the water moves faster than on the inside. Onthe inside of the bend, the water slows down, and finer materialsfall out of suspension in the water. That's why the inside of a bend has thefiner materials, and the outside of a bend has the coarsest materials.
The outside of the bend carries the heaviest load of clay particles, silt, sand, and gravel. All that coarse junk, scours the rocks, wearing away the sides and the cliffs so that the river can continue to flow in the bend.
If you put a spoon of sugar in an iced tea glass, it will sink to the bottom. If you stir it up for a bit, the sugar will whirl around the glass, and will only fall to the bottom when the tea quits spinning around,right? It's the same thing, it isn't centrifugal force, tis the speed of the water current.
I hope this makes sense.
[[The boats on the outside if the bend will move faster, because the current is stronger, and the water moves faster than on the inside. ]]
Yeah , that describes the behavior of floating material . But suspended material is heavier than water . It has greater momentum than water of equal volume . When an object with momentum hits the bend it continues in a straight line even as the water is deflected in a curved path . It's just physics ...
In all honesty, we didn't get into this in college, which, for me, was over 35 years ago... Nor did I ever study physics, I just taught it.
But, I don't see the sugar in a glass of tea moving faster than the tea when I stir it. I see the sugar dropping out as the tea slows. So, it loses momentum and actually goes slower than the tea, sticking to the bottom, while the tea is still swirling gently.
Ok, help me, please. I'm thinking of a huge rock cliff in Madison, IN, that juts out from the shore. The Ohio River slams into this rock, along the side, and then the water waves around it. In the past 30 years, (Madison was one of my first projects), you can notice that holes are being formed into the rock cliff, down along the water line. I haven't been able to wade out there and look and see if anything is below the water line. Nor do I have really have an idea what is happening along the bottom of the river at that point, (which is only about 5' deep), or the base of the cliff.
If the sands and gravels traveled in a straight line, while the current waved, wouldn't there be a large deposit of sand and gravel there at the cliff? When the sands and gravels hit the cliff, they would lose momentum and fall out... Like a sand bar? There isn't. The river is about the same depth all along the shore line, about the same distance out. I know that because we've boated there...
But suspended material is heavier than water . It has greater momentum than water of equal volume .
If this were true, wouldn't the wall of a tsunami be made of the rocks, etc., ripped from the sea floor? Wouldn't the rocks hit the shore first, then the water? This doesn't make sense...
I don't see it. I'm not being obtuse, I promise, I just don't see it.
I had asome really good diagrams of this in my physical geology book, but it was long ago stolen.
The material suspended in the water is suspended there due to the force (energy) of the water being greater than the force of the gravity trying to pull it down. When the water loses energy, the heavier matl's can drop out.
More energy in the stream = more potential for moving objects.
Less energy in the stream = less potential for moving objects.
The mass per unit volume of water vs. sediment is not the way to look at this.
There is an adequate discussion of this topic here
Please note that on the sidebar on the left hand side there are more topics related to streams, erosion, sediment load, deposition, etc.
This might be a place to look to help you understand the topic better.
Thanks, I was stumped!
I can't ever seem to come up with stuff from that long ago-- and barely remember my old textbooks!
I will yield on the momentum issue . In terms of momentum per unit of displacement a grain of sand is the same as a large rock ...
[[I don't see the sugar in a glass of tea moving faster than the tea when I stir it]]
Sugar gets saturated with water and acquires a density closer to water . It just doesn't behave the same as rocks or gravel .
[[If the sands and gravels traveled in a straight line, while the current waved, wouldn't there be a large deposit of sand and gravel there at the cliff? When the sands and gravels hit the cliff, they would lose momentum and fall out... Like a sand bar? There isn't.]]
The cliff is NOT out of the flow of water like the inside bend of a river . There is plenty of flow right up to the face of the cliff as long as the water strikes it at 90 degrees or nearly 90 .
[[If this were true, wouldn't the wall of a tsunami be made of the rocks, etc., ripped from the sea floor? Wouldn't the rocks hit the shore first, then the water? ]]
There is another factor which affects objects in a river . Heavier objects like rocks and gravel have less surface area to mass ratio . Sand , by contrast , has a lot of surface area even though it is as dense as rocks or gravel . The acceleration of an object depends on the force applied to it [by water in this case] and its mass .
The sand has a high F/M ratio . That is why it gets accelerated . [ A = F/M] . But when it moves out the the flow it stops rapidly due to more deceleration when it gets out of the flow .
Yup , sand can be accelerated or decelerated faster than rocks because of the large difference in surface area .
From a mathematical POV surface area scales as the square of the dimensions while mass scales along with volume as the cube of the dimensions . The surface area of an object that is 10 times the size is 100 times greater than the small object but the volume [and the mass ] is 1000 times as great . Force acting on the object is proportional to the surface area so it is also 100 times as great . Taking the ratio we get A = F/M = 100/1000 = 0.1 . That would be the acceleration [or deceleration] of a piece of gravel compared to a grain of sand 1/10 the size . The grain of sand has A = 1 in this example .
Also take into account the relative amounts of energy it takes to move the particles. That is, the larger and more dense an object is the more energy or force will need to be expended to move it.
Yup, sand can be accelerated or decelerated faster than rocks because of the large difference in surface area .
I don't think anyone would contest this point because it is self evident and born out by empirical evidence. But, because it is moving with the water ()a system) it does not behave as a particle that just received x amount of energy and was turned loose. It has all the water, all the energy of that river upstream coming down because of the unceasing pull of gravity on the water. (Gravity makes a whole lot of geology work.)
So even though the stream may momentarily drop a rock, the high energy that is present at the outside of the curve will pick it back up and move it further down the stream, it wont just drop it there. In dunes (aolean environments), this is known as saltation, can't remember if the same term applies to liquid fluids as well.
And now I am going to stop because I think that we might be talking at cross purposes. It was your contention, was it not, that there would be a large deposit of sand and gravel at a cliff jutting out into a stream?
I think that we misunderstood the scenario. Usually when dealing with/teaching stream dynamics geologists think in terms of potential energy starting from a high source and going to some point where there is a decrease in the actual energy of the water such as a lake.
B.S.
When you're talking about the energy transfer from moving water to an object you need to consider the flux of the received energy . That flux is proportional to the upriver exposed surface area of the object .
[[I don't think anyone would contest this point because it is self evident and born out by empirical evidence. ]]
I was attempting to quantitatively analyze the precise nature of the factors affecting it . Another issue is to apply the same 2 factors [surface area and mass] to the effects of gravity . The surface area produces drag from relative movement in the water and the mass is proportional to the downward directed force .
But there are other things that affect the results . Turbulence is certainly one of them . Knowing the Reynolds number of the object would be revealing [or as you put it , a systems approach ] .
[[It was your contention, was it not, that there would be a large deposit of sand and gravel at a cliff jutting out into a stream? ]]
Not necessarily . I'm not sure how to analyze that situation ...
Great Job Dowser! You haven't lost your touch for teaching, that is for sure!
I live up a very steep hill with several bodies of water below me, Roslyn Pond and Hempstead Bay. I am sure you know the bay well.
I have had a lot of fun with my nephew tracing water run off from the hillside.
My hill is in the background.
Don't try to analyze it, just think like a stone, cobble, etc. Actually, something sticking straight out into the stream would be closer to the breakwaters to prevent longshore drift. that would cause the water in closest to the bank would pile up, form an eddy of sorts.
the heavier objects would definitely fall out
All of this reminds me of when I first started as a geologist. I was hired, along with a math whiz, to work as a hydrogeologist. One of the first concepts I had to learn was how to do all the hydrogeological calculations necessary to do my job.
One of the terms I learned was about the Coefficient of Storage, a dimensionless value, that essentially acts as a place keeper to keep all the decimals lined up right, so that the answers you get are right. A value of 0.1 represents a water table aquifer and a value of 0.0001 represents an artesian aquifer.
The fellow I worked with, couldn't accept that it had no real value or dimension. He spent days, trying to prove that a Coefficient of Storage couldn't be 0.1. I, on the other hand, was just relieved that one of those numbers was easy to remember, and could have cared less. I had no trouble accepting the fact that the Coefficient of Storage represents something without having an actual measurement to back it up. It is sort of how a lot of stuff works-- it just does, don't confuse me with all the mechanics. I really feel good about the fact that water boils when it gets hot enough.
Anyway, he spent all this time, stuck on one thing, which meant nothing in the long run. He didn't last long in the business...
WOW! How very beautiful! It just looks lovely!
That reminds me of the well field at Great Neck-- way up in one of the hollows of the hills up there... Wooded and dark!
Finding which way the water goes is always so much fun!
[[just think like a stone, cobble, etc. ]]
No can do . But I can think like a physicist . A = F/M is as simple as it gets for a physics mechanics problem , thanks to Mr. Newton .
And it tells you things quantitatively . It lets you anticipate how heavy a stone would have to be to settle out in a current of a given speed . I'm sure someone has done an analysis like this somewhere ...
[[the heavier objects would definitely fall out]]
I don't think you have followed the discussion that Dowser brought up . She pointed out a situation in which it is only the lighter objects which fall out .
I wish I'd Had calc3 and difEQ when I took physics. It would have made the whole thing so much easier.
I guess if you want to go into that far, well then fine, have at it. Not my Forte`. You run into amazing complexity when you try to model a stream bottom for all of the differing flow patterns. There are ripple marks (again kind of like the saltation thing) to a greater or lesser degree dependent on flow rates (not accelerations), Channelization effects... and I am sure that some physical geologist or sedimentologist has figured out just how quickly a stream has to be moving to carry a sediment of a certain size. If not, sounds like a doctoral dissertation to me!
But for the cliff, (and you were correct in saying that I hadn't followed the thread closely enough, damn multitasking) with the lighter sediments near it and the heavier sediments not near it, you have to take into account that flow rates and volumes change.
So, unless you know the specific details ofthe physical layout ofthe bottom, the angle that the water impinges upon the cliff, the depositional environment for each stage of the river flow... it is difficult to say with any certainty "this is what is occurring there." Whereas a little field trip to the location, and one usually sees what is causing or has caused the particular depositional pattern.
That sais, I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that the cliff is not perpendicular to the flow direction, and that at one of the higher stages of flow the bottom is scoured, and that at normal stages the depositional environment is one such that the sand, or whatever the sediment is, is deposited.
Look Ma! No Math!
Sorry, had to do it.
B.S.
In the case where the lighter materials fall out, the heavier materials have already fallen out, and only the lighter ones are left. I'm not flying in the face of physics, it reacts just as physics says it does. On the inside of the bend of a river, the sediments are finer, because the current of the river is slower, and has less force.
Yes, I'm sure someone hasdone studies of this, but I have noidea who or where.
It works the same for an alluvial fan.
Wasn't the question re the outside of a curve and not the inside?
The heavier seds fall first, yes. I thought that we were discussing a situation where it looked like that was not the case. oh well. doesn't really matter. Had fun all the same!
Yes, you're right, it was!
[[In the case where the lighter materials fall out, the heavier materials have already fallen out, and only the lighter ones are left. ]]
Uhhh ... didn't you say that the heavier materials fall out on the outside bend ? If so that would occur later than the fine material on the inside of the bend ... or at least at about the same time .
Sediments roll across the river floor in ever-moving sheets. Where the current is fastest, it can carry the larger pieces. When a bend is approached, the fastest part of the water switches to the channel at the outside, carrying the heavier materials there. The water slows at the inside, so you have a natural gradation of coarser to finer particles on the inside of the bend.
the main part of the channel is called the Thalweg, and that's what I look for, buried beneath all the other sediments, for wells. That's where the coarsest sands and gravels are located, and that's where the best wells are placed. (Best as in highest producing.)
Well, I was trying to reply to N. Cognito-- so sorry!!! I can't seem to find the correct REPLY button.
Dowser ,
[[Where the current is fastest, it can carry the larger pieces. ]]
Sorry , I don't mean to be a pest here . Fast current can also carry the smaller pieces ... right ? I'm guessing that fine sediment gathers on the inside of the bend because it is the only place the current is too weak to move it . And it is also too weak to carry the larger stuff there .
Are you saying there is NO fine sediment on the outside of the bend [maybe because the current would move it further downstream] ? That's my best guess FWIW .
Yes, the stronger the current, the more likely it is to carry the fine stuff along in suspension.
Ok Miss Dowser...here is a 'curve ball'. In many states, water that falls on YOUR property is not considered YOURS. In some areas, it is considered illegal to collect rain water in a barrel from your roof gutter down spouts. This jus seems WRONG on so many different levels. How can rainwater run off from your roof become privatized and legislated...?
I read a while back about a case back east about the guy getting prosecuted by a country for just such an offense. Arcane laws mostly, but when a municipal water supply is being fed by the local watershed, it may be necessary to have some regulation.
Everbody wants to live within a shoreline view of the river, but once the water gets there it is gone. Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink.
It's the wave of the future, dear Timey. I don't like it any more than you do-- but the reason for it is to protect the recharge, which is very low in low rainfall places.
No, it's not fair.
Hey there, dear 1984! Good to see you, too!
Yep. There are many cases for this... It's a sad state of affairs, and sad state of the aquifers in our country. People just don't realize that we are MINING the water. We are withdrawing it faster than it can be recharged.
When it runs out, that's it. And the day of reckoning is coming, some day.
Lovely to See You again my friend. Insert Link to Moody Blues here, Hmmm, maybe I should try that.
Special mention to N. Cognito and Broliver for the physics debate. I never got much past F=M/A, but that was enough to open my eyes. Somethingfrom the back of my mind is screaming F=MA but that was a long time ago.
Cool the link works.
Neat! I'll take a look-- I love Moody Blues! And WOW, that has some great photography!
Golly, I never had physics, I just taught it, 30 years ago... All I know is if I don't look too closely at things at a particle level, I don't get confused.
Geologists, as a rule, look at broader trends, rather than bit by bit. My training is showing...
Take care, dear friend! I'm REALLY glad to see you!
You are most welcome! Last time I had physics was as an undergrad in 1988. I have retaken all of the math up to Diff EQ since, and it was eye opening. Once you get the relationship between the physical and mathematical world, it just opens up so many more doors in your mind.
I need to do that, but "unofficially". I have dyscalculia, and math drives me utterly NUTS.
I haven't had math since 1974. A LONG time ago!
I STILL don't get it Miss Dowser. Did GOD transfer ownership and rights for 'rain' to our government? And if rainwater has 'value'...why isn't our uncollected 'donation' deducted from our water bill? Jus askin...
Ah'm sure the NA felt the same way when those 'dumb-ass' white people traded them good beads fer land that was freely available to all. The concept of 'ownership' must have seemed absurd. Like who 'owns' the title to the Moon or Mars or sunlight? What gives the government the 'right' of ownership? From whom did the government buy the rights of ownership to rain? Do they own rights to the air we breath...or is thaa coming up next?
I understand their reasoning. But it's not an issue of "fairness"...it's a matter of absurdity. Jus one more 'legal' way to make the common people illegal 'outlaws'...*sigh*
"So why are you in...?" Oh me...? I collected rain run off in my rain barrel. How bout you? "I burned in my fireplace during a stage three alert...neighbor snitched me off" oh....
I'm ALL for rain barrels! Yeeehaaa! And to me, if it falls on your ground, it's yours to do with what you please. That's how I feel. But, I also realize that places where every drop is precious may have a very different viewpoint than I.
It's all about people mining a non-renewable resource. And that is just what is happening in places out west! Every drop of renewable water is regarded as necessary. SIGH!
yeeeeeeah...lettum come find me.
Sorry Miss Dowser, loooong ago, ah embraced the 'OUTLAW' side of me an ah'm good wit da. They can KISS ma rosey red cistern...
I dont' blame you one bit!!!
All they are going to do is waste it, anyway... You need it!!!
Topo maps are cool and have many uses too. Kentucky is sometimes a challenge with them. I tried using them to see where ancestors lived. Back in the day water source was key to population movements, settlement and homestead placement. Some Kentucky waterways were forever changed by "Peabody's Coal Train", like in Mr. Prine's reference to in Muhlenberg County. I found a description of an ancestor's property, where the Green River had exposed the coal vein. I'm sure that change the waterway a bit and for his day they 'had money to burn", so to speak.
BTW - the watershed image reminds me of an area on the boarder of Wayne County, Pa, the Moosic Mountains. One side goes to the Susquehanna River, the other side goes to the Delaware River. It's kind of a defacto boundary in the fracking controversy.
They sometimes forget that water can move in completely different directions underground. Based on pressure and bedding planes. Fracking is a mess.
I think they understand the flow dynamics and geology very well and are playing dumb. But that could derail your article, sorry.