Surface Water and Why it is Important

Councils all over the world talk about the “three waters”.  These are: 

1. Drinking and household water, 
2. Waste water and 
3. Surface water.

Drinking Water
Few of us stop to think how amazing it is that we can turn on the tap and good water comes out. 100s of kilometres of pipes and huge pumps are used to get water to your place, just when you want it from deep under the ground.

Waste Water 
This is water from things like our washing water, our toilets or used water from our sinks.  It also includes water that has been used by industry.  This water is is pumped through sewers and to the sewage treatment plant in Bromley.

Surface Water 

This  is all the water that flows off our streets, driveways, houses, and parks when it rains.  All surface water runs directly into our creeks and river systems. 

Christchurch is one of the flattest cities in the world and much of it used to be wetlands.  This means that drainage in the city has always been difficult, particularly when we have a lot of rain. Water quickly runs off the hard, paved surfaces that we have around the city rather than soaking into the ground slowly.  This increases flooding and affects the pollution of our rivers and streams.

Any pollutants on these surfaces run off when it rains and end up in the rivers and, eventually, in the sea.  Common pollutants are things like

• plastic, which is dropped or falls out of people’s rubbish bins,
• copper which comes from car brake pads or copper on houses,
• zinc which comes from unpainted roofs and
• oil, detergents or anything that might be on the roads or in driveways that is washed off when it rains.
• dog poo and pee
• Anything that people decide to wash down a drain

You can help keep our local rivers clean by:

• asking for copper free brake pads when you have to replace the brake pads on your car, 
• making sure your car is not leaking oil, and by washIng your car on your lawn or in a car wash (not on your driveway or on the road where all the detergent will run into the river).
• keeping your roof painted, 
• washing paint brushes in a sink in your house rather than near roadside drains, and 
• picking up dog poo when you are out walking the dog 
• planting densely along drains and river banks.  If you have a river in your garden you can do this yourself.  If not the help with planting days along stream banks.  Taller plants and even long grass can help to catch pollutants before they enter the waterways

More Power Savers

In my last post, I provided some power saving tips – things that you can do for free to cut your power bills.  

In this postI’m going to look at things that have a cost but which generally pay back that cost by the power that you save.
 
Low energy lighting.
The no-extra-cost ideas from last month will save you more than enough to buy your first low-energy light bulbs.  LEDs are dropping quickly in price, they last a long time and a bulb of around 8 watts gives good light equivalent to a traditional 100 watt filament bulb, or a 25 watt fluorescent bulb.  Where possible avoid using the fluorescent light bulbs (the ones composed of small curly tubes).  They are quite fragile and contain mercury which makes them more hazardous to dispose of if you break them.  

LEDs can be bought pretty much wherever you buy lightbulbs.


Efficient Fridge Doors
Fridges and freezers can use a lot of power because they’re working 24hrs a day.  If choosing a new fridge, look for at least 3.5 stars on the energy efficiency label. Each extra star is an efficiency gain of about 10%.

Check the seals on upright fridge and freezer doors. They need to be tight enough to hold a piece of paper trapped in place when the door is closed.  If not put new seal on the doors.  Look for parts sources in Yellow Pages or ask at a retailer.

If you have an older fridge that runs  for long periods each day it may have a faulty thermostat –A recent survey found that about one in 5 older fridges did!  Unnecessary running could frost-damage food and run up excess bills. 
 

Stop whistling draughts.
Draughts can steal away up to 20% of the warm air from your home. Block up any open fireplaces with a chimney balloon or permanently with board or bricks and seal gaps in and around windows and  exterior doors. Hardware stores stock draught-stop strips, brushes and sealing caulks. You can make draught-stopper ‘sausages’ or ‘snakes’ to place at internal doors, from old scraps of fabric, stuffed with tights or cushion filling.
 

Cheap  DIY double-glazing  for windows.
Some of your windows might be suitable for using a plastic window insulation kit.  These are a clear plastic film, which you attach to the inside of the window frame using double-sided adhesive tape, and shrink the plastic to fit with a hair-dryer or fan heater.  You can find out more about the pros and cons of this at www.energywise.govt.nz