Thread: Homesteading / Sustainable Living

Originally Posted by Panama60

Be careful about what you do with the 3 R's. Rain catchment or harvesting is illegal in
some states (not in Oklahoma). I'm have been setting up rain catchment to supply my
grapes and a future garden. My water bill has doubled because of hidden fees (not
taxes). Stormwater fee ($4.40 a month) is for the rain that falls on your property, but
if you can catch and store over 500 gallons, that same fee goes up another $35.00
a month. Yet, I can't find anything about this in the local codes. Its not a tax, its a fee.

I don't understand why your fee would go up because of catching and using the water. In MN you can get a reduced or 100% cancelled fee depending on what you do like this

I used to raise all my own meat and had fresh eggs everyday. Big garden but only ate out of that in season. 5 apple trees and an orange. I had more compost than I could use as it was only a little over 3/4 acre. I miss that place but not the Ex.

New plan, make some money, buy some land that is within 2 days ride by horse to internet or cell phone. Build self sufficient ranch/home. I have sufficient skills to build or make just about anything my heart desires and the tools to do it.

Stuck in the F$&*%^* G #$ D867 dang City for now.

@10Pups - I feel ya, brother. I used to live in the country southwest of little cow plop of a town that was 22 miles (one way) to groceries and gas. God, I miss that place!

Originally Posted by 32t

I don't understand why your fee would go up because of catching and using the water. In MN you can get a reduced or 100% cancelled fee depending on what you do like this

Tim - When I spoke to the City Manager about the fee, it was explained to me that people who practiced rain harvesting put an undo burden on the system that feeds the
sewage treatment plant and that this is causing the lower water levels in our aquifer. When I replied "You know you're full of s--t, right?", I was asked to leave.
In a post in a different thread, I listed another reason that leads me to believe our local Council is corrupt.

So, we had mandatory water rationing, and our water rate went up… because folks were using … less water!

Now they are saying the drought may be over, do you think they will reduce the rate back to what it was?

Originally Posted by Panama60

Tim - When I spoke to the City Manager about the fee, it was explained to me that people who practiced rain harvesting put an undo burden on the system that feeds the
sewage treatment plant and that this is causing the lower water levels in our aquifer. When I replied "You know you're full of s--t, right?", I was asked to leave.
In a post in a different thread, I listed another reason that leads me to believe our local Council is corrupt.

Here the sewer fee is about 2 times the water charge the last time I looked. They base the sewer charge on your water meter. If you are collecting rain water and then sending it down the sanitary sewer then it wouldn't show up on your water meter so they would be processing water that they didn't charge you for..... At my work we have separate meters for things like cooling towers that we can prove that 90% or so evaporates and then we get a break on our sewer charge. Similar to the lawn sprinkling meter. 100% deduction.

Our storm sewer fee is based on lot size and nonpermiable coverings like roofs and concrete driveways or sidewalks. The runoff from these create cost for the storm sewer system. If you can prove that you have settling pond or collect it to soak into your garden and therefore it never reaches the storm sewer system then you can get the deductions.

Tim

Originally Posted by 32t

Here the sewer fee is about 2 times the water charge the last time I looked. They base the sewer charge on your water meter. If you are collecting rain water and then sending it down the sanitary sewer then it wouldn't show up on your water meter so they would be processing water that they didn't charge you for..... At my work we have separate meters for things like cooling towers that we can prove that 90% or so evaporates and then we get a break on our sewer charge. Similar to the lawn sprinkling meter. 100% deduction.

Our storm sewer fee is based on lot size and nonpermiable coverings like roofs and concrete driveways or sidewalks. The runoff from these create cost for the storm sewer system. If you can prove that you have settling pond or collect it to soak into your garden and therefore it never reaches the storm sewer system then you can get the deductions.

Tim

This is what Trump refers to as over regulating. It's a money grab. Taxation without representation. I understand the storm water part, but honestly, who uses rain water in the house system ? You would have to pressurize it and add it to your piping not mention treating it. Commercial water use is not billed the same as residence, nor is the sewer, trash, water, electricity or gas. I learned that when I bought and used commercial property for the first time. The bills were double what my residence was and I use twice as much at home.

Originally Posted by 10Pups

but honestly, who uses rain water in the house system ? You would have to pressurize it and add it to your piping not mention treating it.

If they posted it then they would admit they are cheating the system............. If they live in town that is.

Gravity or a pressure pump would work fine to plumb it into your house. I have drank much untreated water along with millions of others and live to tell about it. The bottled water industry has convinced many that anything but their water is bad for you.....

One thing they missed off the list is start using a straight razor! Saves loads of plastic razors ending up in land fill

A few years ago we had a draught in the South East (even though it always rains here) hosepipes were banned and fines issued for those that did. All well and good, however it was nationally reported that in this time Thames Valley Water failed to mend a broken mains pipe for 4 weeks or so wasting thousands of liters of water.
Another little gem is we have a few different recycling bins that have to be adhered to, unfortunately some still ends up in land fill as it costs the council more to recycle than just dump it.

Originally Posted by jfleming9232

Thanks for this post. Do any of our other members have or want to start homesteading? Maybe we could make this a topic in and of itself. It seems to go along with why we do what we do anyway.

A homesteading thread would be cool but beyond my experience level. There are yearly gardening threads that have been pretty active.

This particular thread does not have to be about the three "R". It could be about learning a new skill, or using a new skill, to become more self-sufficient. For instance, I really want to bump up my hunting and gathering this year in addition to gardening. I also would like to do learn some woodworking and make some things for the house.

I have the ability of changing the Title of this thread

fire me a PM

I actually belong to a homesteading page on FB, tons of great info and ideas on there

I would love to talk about it here too

I follow many of the things on that list but I am not by any stretch of the imagination Environmentally Conscious

For me it has to make Financial Sense plus make me happy