Driving North on Interstate 5

I finally got free to travel a little bit again. But I noticed that there were about 1/4 of the cars on the road since the price of gas went again above $4 a gallon everywhere in California. So, it seemed like almost during the worst times we went through in 2009 and 2010. On one level it is good that people are driving less in that it makes the air clearer here in the Western United States. But, on the other hand it also means our economy is functioning much differently than it did up until 2006. I suppose another way to look at it is more people likely are using public transportation and more people aren't taking cars out much unless it is for work that get under 25 miles per gallon either. So, this may be what the new normal is and not an anomaly here in the Western United States. I had heard that Lake of the Woods would soon be out of water. I just learned another little town that will be soon out of water too, Montague, California.

Montague, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montague,_California‎

Wikipedia

Montague is a city in Siskiyou County, California, United States. The population was 1,443 at the 2010 census, down from 1,456 at the 2000 census.

Lake of the Woods, California - Wikipedia, the free ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_of_the_Woods,_California‎

Wikipedia

Lake of the Woods is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California. The population was 917 at the 2010 census, ...

‎Population - ‎Transportation - ‎Public facilities - ‎See also

I have mentioned before that one of the ways to handle this kind of situation for some people is to buy a 1200 gallon or bigger water tank and put it on a roof or a garage or a free standing structure at the height of a house (unless you have two stories) then it has to be higher than your highest water spigot in the house unless you want to pump the water higher than the tank for use. 

Then people can buy water through water tanker drivers who get water one place and deliver it to another place for a fee. However, still you have to be very conservative about how you use this water too or else you will be filling the tank several times a week. However, my parents and I had one of these out in the desert in Yucca Valley until we had pipes put in on my father's (as we built it) eventual retirement home in the high desert. So, for 5 or more years this was our water source for watering plants, washing dishes, taking showers and everything else one does with water at a home. Mostly then, we were only out weekends while building this home so our water likely would last doing this a few months. But, we didn't drink that water because we brought in bottled water for drinking and cooking. We used a high 1200 gallon water tank that we installed on top of a very well built tool shed my father and I built. But, if you do this just 2 by 4s aren't going to hold this weight unless you use a whole lot of them in a structure 

 

1 gallon of water weighs 8.345 pounds 

end quote from:

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061030214312AAjOQ4A

So, if one gallon of water weighs 8.345 pounds then 1200 gallons weighs over 10,000 pounds or about 10,014 pounds. So, if you get a larger tank you need to think about stress loads of water and wind and earthquakes on that water tank. Because no one needs a water tank coming down on them anytime.

Once the empty water tank is installed a water tanker you hire or a water tanker you buy (like on a trailer or in the back of your pickup truck or a large water tanker you can buy you could even do this yourself and then it is pumped up into the tank through a hose usually with a gasoline powered water pump. However, if this drought is a short time you might have to think about what kind of an investment you want to  put into all this? Because you really don't know right now whether this drought is a 3 year (so far event) or more permanent.

Another thing to think about is if you are inside city limits there might be restrictions on water tanks. Also, check what the building codes are in your county before you install something like this so they don't red tag it and make you tear it down after all the work you put into it.

So, although this might work for some people it likely won't work for everyone because of local building codes and safety regarding heavy water tanks.

Another idea which will work for most of you is to install your water tank 1200 gallons or more at ground level if you have electricity and to buy a pressure tank which pumps the water and puts air pressure on it to run through your pipes of your house automatically. My father and I installed this after we wanted more pressure from the roof height water tank we had installed. But, with a pressure tank you don't have to have the tank higher than ground level. But, with it at roof level you don't have to have to have a pressure tank as long as you don't mind a lower pressure of water coming out at ground level. So, a 1200 gallon roof height water tank doesn't need electricity only gravity to get it into your sinks and bathrooms as long as they all are below the height of the water tank and as long as you don't mind having water come out at a slightly lower pressure than you might be used to with electricity in a suburb or big city.