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Newsletter: Election, Water Storage, Water Quality Testing, New Utah Greywater Law

October 2004

On this page:

Vote November 2nd
Win a Water Storage book
Water Quality Testing
New Utah Greywater Law
Upcoming Events

Dear Systems Design Enthusiasts:

It's been a busy, long while since we've sent our last newsletter. We're crazy busy, but we thought we'd slip this out before you—

Vote November 2nd

The 2004 presidential election will do more to determine how possible it is for humans to live ecologically on this earth than any event since...umm... the serpent and the apple?

There is a doctrine (espoused most publicly by Reagan Interior Secretary James Watt) that the Earth and its resources are nothing more than the stage setting for the drama of human salvation. Under this theory, we might as well consume it all, as it's going to end up in the dumpster after the second coming anyway. I suppose a second coming would make the national debt moot as well.

This is the antithesis of an ecological systems design: managing resources with an effort to improve life for future generations and other creatures.

If you care about the election outcome and you've got any energy or money left for last-minute effort to influence the election, please see our Activism page for ideas.

Win a Water Storage Book

We've been working hard for months on a water storage book. Would you like a sneak preview? See

Water Storage-book

We've got a few questions for you:

1) What would you like this book to cover? If you let us know soon, there's still a chance we could cover your pet topic.

2) What do you think the title and subtitle should be?

3) Would you like to buy one, or is this not a book you'd buy?

We'll send free copies of the book to the folks who Email us the best feedback. (Note: you can still win a free book even if you say you wouldn't buy one!)

Water Quality Testing Procedures and Information

This is a set of downloadable files which will help you learn water testing techniques which are an optimal combination of simple, inexpensive and accurate; improve the design of your testing program; learn the limitations of testing; and learn how to get more out of your interpretation of water testing results.

$14.95 34 Page PDF document, plus editable Word document, and Excel worksheet- BETA VERSION -More Info-

Utah Blows It on New Greywater Reg

Despite having excellent examples to follow in its neighbors Arizona and New Mexico, Utah has instead followed in California's footsteps to enact a law which is worse than useless. It actually outdoes California in making virtually no practical greywater installation legal, with a section recommending surge tanks so oversized that they will serve as greywater to blackwater conversion chambers. See the Utah section of the Greywater policy center for details.

Web Pages Spiffed Up

If these topics interest you and you haven't been to these pages in a while, take a look:

What driving costs
Green 4,000 ft2 home?

Upcoming Oasis Design Programs

Greywater is Green, a talk by Art Ludwig (yours truly), at the Southwest Xeriscape Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 24, 2005.

A Greywater Collection Plumbing workshop will follow February 26th.

Understanding Water, Water Quality Testing, and Water System Design (including microhydro) in Cuyama, California, tentatively planned for Fall 2005. Contact us if you're interested...