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Monsoon pounds Phoenix, worst flooding in 30 years

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vailr said:
Not Phoenix so much. California (and Nevada) is where they're desperate for potable water, even though the Pacific Ocean is right there waiting to be de-salinated.
...........................................
Idea: re-engineer the water supply system for dual water supply, in California and Nevada, so that every time a toilet is flushed, only non-potable Pacific Ocean sea water would be used to flush the toilet. Maybe also for public display fountains in Las Vegas, spray washing parking lots, etc.
A separately kept potable water supply could thereby be better conserved and made more available for such uses as bathing, dishwashers, clothes washers, drinking water, etc.
Click to expand...


Sea water would wreck the plumbing throughout the entire state.
 
vailr said:
Not Phoenix so much. California (and Nevada) is where they're desperate for potable water, even though the Pacific Ocean is right there waiting to be de-salinated.
...........................................
Idea: re-engineer the water supply system for dual water supply, in California and Nevada, so that every time a toilet is flushed, only non-potable Pacific Ocean sea water would be used to flush the toilet. Maybe also for public display fountains in Las Vegas, spray washing parking lots, etc.
A separately kept potable water supply could thereby be better conserved and made more available for such uses as bathing, dishwashers, clothes washers, drinking water, etc.
Click to expand...

San Diego uses cleaned wastewater for landscaping for businesses already. I suppose new houses could have it set up to do the same, but that would be incredibly expensive. Orange County just injects the cleaned wastewater into the aquifer and pumps out filtered water.

In general salt water would be horrible to use from all the salt and minerals in it. Our hard water already wreaks havoc on plumbing.
 
rockyct said:
San Diego uses cleaned wastewater for landscaping for businesses already. I suppose new houses could have it set up to do the same, but that would be incredibly expensive. Orange County just injects the cleaned wastewater into the aquifer and pumps out filtered water.

In general salt water would be horrible to use from all the salt and minerals in it. Our hard water already wreaks havoc on plumbing.
Click to expand...

Even salt water aquariums that uses ocean water as replacement instead of filtration (better for fish) have a lot of problems.

But they have to regularly run some "bullet" through the pipes to keep them open and flowing

http://www.plumbingengineer.com/dec_09/monterey_feature.php
 
DaTT said:
That happened in my city a month or so ago. 8-10 inches of rain in very short period of time...like several hours. I was at the cottage when it happened so I missed out.
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Yep, that was nuts. Friend of mine got trapped on the highway when the QEW flooded over. Lot of people got screwed too because insurance doesn't cover flooding.


If Arizona has too much water, put it in a truck and sell it to California. Profit??
 
mmntech said:
If Arizona has too much water, put it in a truck and sell it to California. Profit??
Click to expand...

Pretty sure most of it is going to end up in reservoirs, Lake Pleasant, Roosevelt, Canyon Lake, and so on.

We definitely need the water . . . just not so pleasant to get it all at once.
 
vailr said:
More rain between about 2:30 AM -> 7:00 AM than for an entire year's precipitation (which is normally about 3"), according to KFYI.
Looks like I-10 in west Phoenix could use some better engineered storm drainage.
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They misspoke or you heard wrong; Phoenix has an average precipitation rate of around 8 inches.
 
Yeah, my friends back in Phoenix are having a great time. Meanwhile, I have coworkers and friends at a training in La Quinta, CA and their resort got flooded too. Don't know how they'll finish the week-long training with no electricity.
 
build the damn umbrella!

john_mccain_growl_AP.jpg
 
For those of you unfamiliar with Phoenix or, the SW in general, there are no storm drains. The city planners purposely use the streets as water runoff. The problem is during the monsoons, the quantity of water can not be absorbed fast enough by the caliche soil. The city chose to bet that the cost of damage due to flooding would be less than the cost of engineering a solution.
 
dmcowen674 said:
We can run oil and gas pipelines all over the country but heaven forbid water.
Click to expand...

Uhhhhhh, uhhhh, seriously?
1st. Reservoirs.
2nd Yes, there are pipelines. See: NYC
3rd For pipelines going a significant distance, you're talking about a VERY significant cost. Especially if the terrain isn't simply downhill. In my little area of NY, we pay about 20 cents more per gallon than many other areas. Reason (or so we're told): cost of getting it through the pipelines. 20 cents per gallon - you want to pay that for shower water? A 10 minute shower at 1.5 gallons per minute is $3?

Furthermore, per capita gasoline consumption in the United States is right around 1 gallon per person per day. Per capita water consumption in the U.S. is somewhere between 150 and 200 GALLONS per person per day.
 
Here's a few more pictures that have shown up on local news sites and twitter.

Those are full sized basketball courts in Glendale
353050.jpg


This poor bastard.
353052.JPG


A freeway overpass.
353088.jpg


Greenbelt in a housing subdivision.
353091.jpg


Another overpass
353090.jpg



Ballsy. Stupid, but ballsy.
353082.jpg
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
For those of you unfamiliar with Phoenix or, the SW in general, there are no storm drains. The city planners purposely use the streets as water runoff. The problem is during the monsoons, the quantity of water can not be absorbed fast enough by the caliche soil. The city chose to bet that the cost of damage due to flooding would be less than the cost of engineering a solution.
Click to expand...

:awe::shock:
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
For those of you unfamiliar with Phoenix or, the SW in general, there are no storm drains. The city planners purposely use the streets as water runoff. The problem is during the monsoons, the quantity of water can not be absorbed fast enough by the caliche soil. The city chose to bet that the cost of damage due to flooding would be less than the cost of engineering a solution.
Click to expand...

but wait a minute:

The City of Phoenix has two separate sewer systems: storm drains and sanitary sewers. Storm drains carry rainwater UNTREATED to our rivers, washes and retention areas. Sanitary sewers carry water from toilets and sinks to your local wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) which treats sewer water to meet State and Federal surface water quality standards.
Click to expand...

😕

https://www.phoenix.gov/waterservices/envservices/stormwater-program
 
And I thought we had it bad for a while in Tucson. I've got waterlines coming up from the side porch and back patio.

I feel for you guys up I-10!
 
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