The Current

Edition: July 2023

The Current is the monthly newsletter of Innovative Water Solutions where we highlight the great stuff happening at our company and also bring you up-to-date with some of the current water news that could affect you. We hope you enjoy the newsletter!

• “Blog Post of the Month” What does the term drought really mean?
• “FAQ Post of the Month” IWS wins water conservation award
• Residential Project of the Month
• Commercial Project of the Month
• News Article: Water sommeliers treat H20 like a fine wine at annual Fine Water Summit
• News Article: Putting salt in tap water and drilling wells in parks: one country’s desperate quest to avoid running dry
• News Article: Landowners fear injection of fracking waste threatens West Texas aquifers
• Water Conservation Tip: Shade is a valuable resource
• Current Texas Drought Conditions
• Current Texas Water Calendar
• Local Business of the Month: Hausbar Urban Farms
• Video: CBS News: Phoenix stops new development as water supply dwindles

This particular project needed a higher level of filtration to combat the lovely (though pollen intensive) pecan trees that surround the property.  So in addition to our standard filtration process, we also installed a sand and carbon filter system.  Through the sand filter, the water is distributed in the top of the sand filter and will slowly sink through the filter bed.  This removes floating matter and solids.  The carbon filter works to remove odors and other particles not removed by the sand filter. These methods help to eliminate the extra pollen, leaves and plant matter that can collect in the tank.

We often receive calls from apartment complexes or condos needing a solution for connecting drainage issues.  This is wise on their part, as creating a solution in one area can lead to water runoff being affected down the line. When we approach all the landscaping as potential opportunities, we are able to create solutions that solve multiple drainage concerns.

Does water have a distinct taste? The answer is a resounding yes – that is, if you ask Martin Riese.

As the world’s foremost water sommelier, Riese makes a living out of tasting water from around the world with the passion of a wine expert luxuriating in a glass of top-shelf Pinot noir.
Riese joined some of the world’s top water tasters in April at the Fine Water Summit in Athens, Greece, where they judged close to 100 different varieties of water, with categories ranging from low-mineral still to high-mineral sparkling.

And while it all might seem slightly ridiculous, these experts argue that there’s more to water than meets the eye.

Water sommeliers can even pair a water with a meal. Floral Tasmanian rainwater, for instance, might go well with your dessert.

Uruguay, grappling with a multi-year drought and high temperatures, is running dry.

The situation has become so bad that residents are being forced to drink salty tap water and workers are drilling wells in the center of the capital to reach the water beneath the ground. On Monday, President Luis Lacalle Pou declared a “water emergency for the metropolitan area.”

The situation is sending shockwaves through this relatively wealthy South American nation, which has long defined access to water as a human right. It’s also a warning sign for countries’ vulnerability in the face of drought, which is set to become more frequent and intense as climate change accelerates.

A fracked well in West Texas can produce five times as much wastewater as oil. Every day, fleets of tanker trucks haul hundreds of millions of gallons of this toxic brine to loosely regulated disposal facilities that line the rural highways.

There, companies inject it deep underground into rock formations, where they hope it will stay forever.

The situation troubles David Shifflett, a farmer who irrigates his crops and draws his drinking water from the ground, which has started to heave and bulge in recent years. One tremor left a broad hump and a half-mile crevice in his land, not far from his water wells, raising fears among him and other landowners that underground storage spaces could fracture and leak their toxic contents into aquifers and wells.

“They’re pumping so much pressure in there,” said Shifflett, a towering, gray-haired man from a long line of farmers. “The oil companies are going to ruin our water.”

SOURCE: National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).

Dorsey and Susan, the farm’s founders, started the project to supplement a restaurant they owned…then decided to become full-time farmers!

HausBar sits on two acres on Govalle Avenue.

“We have never used gas-powered equipment at HausBar Urban Farm. We dug 51 garden beds with pitchforks and shovels; we mow our yard with donkeys and solar-powered lawn equipment; we use no pesticides of any kind; we only use fertilizer we make ourselves by composting our animal manures and leaves; we have 30,000 gallons of rainwater collection storage (installed by Innovative Water Soluitions) and a 35-foot-deep well so that our animals and our garden never receive city treated water of any kind. Our electricity, 50% of it anyway, comes from the roof of a solar-paneled pole barn. We recycle religiously and compost fanatically.”

Visit the farm in person or via their website here: https://www.hausbarurbanfarm.com/about

We are very fortunate in Texas to have local municipalities actively support rainwater collection through public education and rebates. Did you know… the City of Austin has one of the longest running rainwater collection rebate programs in the US.

Did you also know that rainwater harvesting system equipment is sales tax exempt in Texas?

Section 151.355 of the Texas tax Code exempts rainwater harvesting equipment and supplies from state sales tax. To claim this exemption, the purchaser must furnish a Tax Exemption Application Form 01-339 to the supplier at the time of purchase.

Learn more about Water Related Equipment (including rainwater harvesting systems) in Texas.

If you use our installation services, the sales tax exemption will be automatically assumed in the quote pricing we provide.

Read more on our rebate page here: https://www.watercache.com/rebates

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