Water

Off-Grid Cabins in Holy Joe are victimised by trout-lovers
Water

Trout Pout – off-gridders ticked off with obscure fish

ORANGE COUNTY, Aug 24th – Mike Milligan trudges up the canyon, gesturing at bone-dry trees, streams that have turned to trickles and thick carpets of tinder- ready, dead leaves. A cigarette dangles from his lips, slowly becoming ash.
Milligan, the volunteer fire chief for Holy Jim Canyon and longtime cabin owner in the area, frets about fire. His firsthand experience tells him that the driest year on record – 2013 – has only grown worse. The first seven months of 2014 were the hottest ever in Orange County.
“I’ve been coming up here 50-plus years, and I’ve never seen it this bad,” Milligan said.
One problem? The canyon’s alder trees are dying. In healthy times, the alders shade fishing holes. During this drought, the tall, dead alders serve as potential torches. The desiccated trees also shed duff – dead branches and leaves – that in some spots is a foot deep.
The last time the entire forest burned was in 1908, though the smaller Indian Fire took out great patches of forest in 1980.

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Community

How to build your own water cistern system

01
What Is A Water Cistern System?

Those living in a municipality often take for granted utility services that many rural property dwellers are not privileged to enjoy. Many people living in rural regions are extremely fortunate if they are able to afford the huge expense to drill a water well and even more fortunate if the drill actually strikes good potable water. For those rural proprietors or tenants who are challenged by the absence of a drinkable water source on their property a cistern system is a practical and economical alternative.

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Water

100 things to do on British Waterways

1x1placeholderThe Canal & River Trust (formerly British Waterways) is publishing details of 100 readymade waterway days out (canalrivertrust.org.uk/places-to-visit) to give individuals, couples and families a simple and affordable chance to spend quality time.

Half the UK population lives within five miles of one of the Canal & River Trust’s waterways and canals. And there are now 34,000 licensed boats and thousands more unlicensed ones where off-gridders can leave cheap or free lives.

British Waterways were unable to say how fast the numbers are growing, but they do say there are now more boats on the waterways “than at the height of the Industrial Revolution” in the C19th.

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Not prepped at all….

During this last major cold snap, I heard a story on NPR (National Public Radio), it’s the only radio station we can pick up out here, it’s quite a bit left leaning for our tastes, but we take that into consideration when we listen, especially to the news stories.

So this story was about (yet another) major cold snap that was about to hit major parts of the USA, there were going to be states of emergency declared because of the snow, ice and very low temps. There were going to be school and business closings.

The thing that really caught my attention, the thing that surprised me (but probably shouldn’t have) is the talk about “runs on the stores”, they were preparing for, get this, being potentially shut in for,

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beat electrcity/gas price rises. Save money on utulities, save money on energy
Energy

Save Money on Gas/Electricity

Time for a selection of Christmas Gifts for our ON-Grid friends and family. Here’s how to help others save money on energy bills during these cold, dark winter days as bills are going up.

Though price rises are as inevitable as winter, they are a reminder on why its sensible to be off the grid, and also a reason for your less fortunate cousins to check their energy use.

To help them shave large chunks off their energy bills, we’ve put together a guide to this year’s best energy-saving gadgets.

Philips Hue Wi-Fi lo-energy bulbs

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Tax on rainwater coming soon, State rules prevent free use of rainwater
Water

Rainwater politics

You can drink the rainwater in Atlanta, Georgia, but that is one of the few places in the US that provides for the use of rainwater as a source of drinking water. A handful of states – including Arizona, Texas, and Virginia – have created tax credits to reduce rainwater harvesting system costs.

Meanwhile water rates are rising at an average of 8% a year, and corporations are freely using “our” rainwater to increase their profits.

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Solar powered irrigation

Irrigation pumps powered by clean renewable energy, such as solar pumps, could solve both the economic and environmental dilemma: they don’t emit greenhouse gases, and their fuel is free. But renewable-powered pumps have remained a marginal technology. There is currently no such pump available on the market, with an unsubsidized price low enough to compete with the diesel pumps and be adopted widely.

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Floating house designs
Water

Introducing Aquatecture

A new architectural movement is leading to fresh opportunities for off-grid living – close to the rivers and seas that carry so much of our food. We will be following it closely on this web site.

Instead of bringing the water to our homes, why not bring our homes to the water? Especially at a time when rising sea levels threaten the flooding of some of the world’s greatest cities?

Aquatecture is a fundamentally new reappraisal of how we co-exist with the sea and rivers. Leading exponents include Baca Architects, London. Their first domestic project went on site last month.

The Netherlands, which The Washington Post sees as “the world’s premier lab for how to tame rivers and seas,” is also at the forefront of building “amphibious houses,” which are designed to adapt and respond to rising sea levels.

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Solar

Solar Thermal System for Heated Swimming Pool

Imagine taking a dip in your outdoor swimming pool in late October, even November as the ground hardens and the frost thickens. The steam is coming off of your heated pool, and its not costing you a cent – apart from considerable installation costs that is.

There are some design factors to be considered, including proper sizing and location. But there are many web sites to help you, as well as the off-grid technical forum for advice. It’s not imperative to have your solar pool heater configured and installed by experts.

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Umbrella can be used for rainwater harvesting
Water

Tips for harvesting rainwater

Many cities and states encourage rainwater harvesting, yet few homes and commercial buildings have implemented it.

Excuses range from the cost of construction to lack of knowledge. Yet individuals who have incorporated such systems say that integrating water harvesting reduces costs over the long run.

“I have not used Utility water since 1994 in my home.” said A R Shivakumar. “With planning, rain water harvesting does not have to be expensive and space consuming.” Here are his tips:

TANK IT UP

Multiple rainwater tanks can be built depending on the flow of water. For instance, at Shivakumar’s home there is a 4500-litre rooftop tank. The excess water from this tank is allowed to run down rainwater pipes to a 25,000 litre sump built under the portico. If these two tanks fill up, then the extra water is allowed to seep into the ground.

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Water harvesting in Tucson Desert, AZ
Water

Six things you should know about rainwater harvesting in the desert

TUCSON AZ – New techniques and revival of old skills can make a little water go a long way, even here in the Catalina foothills.

1. The secret to urban water harvesting is using the many impermeable surfaces that surround us: roofs, streets, sidewalks and driveways. The runoff from those surfaces amounts to a huge amount, if properly collected and used for irrigation. In rural situations, create as many hard surfaces as you can.
2. Good collection techniques can triple the amount of water that falls, so for example, the patch of garden that now needs irrigation would get about 12 inches a year. That’s still pretty dry, but it does just lift that patch out of a “desert” definition. Diverting rainfall from your rooftop and driveways can provide quite a bit of water for irrigation.

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Community

Food storage ideas…

prepping
Preppers are always trying to get everyone else to at least begin stocking up on some short and long term food storage, honestly the biggest reason is because the more of you who prep, the fewer of you we have to worry about showing up on our doorsteps if/when the SHTF… of course we ALL hope that none of this is ever needed, I wouldn’t be a bit upset if 20, 30, or more years from now I get a big “I told you so…” from those who never prep… but the reality is, it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

So with that said, here are a few videos showing the sorts of things that are relatively inexpensive and easy to stock up on. Things like protein, it’s something we all need in our diet, the good thing about these sources of protein is they don’t require refrigeration and most of them are relatively easy to open, they have pop-tabs or come in pouches that don’t require anything but your fingers to open.

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