Busted

[aussie]

Can't believe it. I got busted by my neighbour for watering on a day that I shouldn't have... Ok - it's only a warning and not an expiation notice but even so.....Who would have thought that SA water worked on a Sat?

Adelaide is on Level 3 water restrictions. That means you can water for three hours a week on a Sat or a Sun (Even numbers on Sat and Odd on Sun - guess what I have?) - what a joke. Doing this is only permissable if you use a hose - no sprinkler mind - has to be hand held...

I've literally spent thousands on my garden and I have trees dying left right and centre.

Adelaide is towards the mouth of the River Murray. To the north and the east we have people taking out gigalitres of  [smiley=furious3.gif] water for crops such as rice (yeah like that doesn't take a lot of water - and you can't buy imported stuff for a quater of the price?) and cotton.....

I got up early this morning (5:30) to water - yeah I have an automatic system but I thought - no  I'll at least do the hand watering. Stupid, stupid me.

I've lived in the same house for the past 19 years. I have a neighbour who has just moved in and their place has gone from being A+++ to hell in a handbasket in a matter of two months. Doesn't water. Doesn't mow the lawn. Hell - even has a nice wreck of a caravan sitting in his front yard. Can I do anything about it? $##%  no!

I have a guy who lives two houses up and has a swimming pool. He backflushes at least once a fortnight - sometimes once a week. Is this legal?? Ummmm.....yes. How often should you backflush...umm.... last time I checked it was once a month.

Sorry for ranting - but JHC - they should give each person in a household an allocation to do with it what they want.

OK....zen now.... Oh - and a -->[smiley=beer.gif]

[Altritter]

Have you considered watering your neighbour's lawn, a la Burt Munro and his lemon tree in The World's Fastest Indian?  

[aussie]

Great film...but I think it would be more effective if I 'accidently' spray some Roundup on his trees - not that he'd notice. (Lets face it - if it's citrus, pee is good for it - as long as you dilute it)

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM ....still zen.....oh and --------->another  [smiley=1drink.gif]

[MrRiden]

Not to advocate anything. I've heard of folks writing their name in the snow with...well refer back to the Burt Monroe movie. [men, the world is our bathroom] I think I've also known of a similar pastime involving roundup & grass. Just sayin'

[Ed Miller]

Can you install a drip irrigation system for your trees?  They really need very little water, if it's applied right to them.  

[aussie]

Well Ed - I have - took me quite some time to do as well. I also have a lot of organics in the soil and use a lot of mulch. I have three issues: 1. I live on the side of a hill - great for landscaping but pretty ordinary for keeping water in the one place...2. We are in the third year of a drought and I have several fairly large trees...( one that I think I have lost and the others are looking pretty stressed) ...3. the majority of my property (like so much of Adelaide) is on clay. Once it's wet it certainly holds the mositure, but you need a lot of water for this to occur. Unfortunately because of the drought, the sub-surface water is fairly deep. It is also becoming more and more saline because people began to put in bores left, right and centre (you can no longer do this).

You are able to use drippers - but it is again all inclusive of the 3 hours during the week that you are permitted to water. As it is, I have a system which is automatic and allowing for the 12 stations, it takes in the vacinity of 4 hours to do the property - and that is not including the lawns (I actually turned my lawns off because of the amount of water that the pop-ups put out). The first year I had them on, my water bill was huge - so much so I actually had SA Water come out and check the meter - just to make sure it was functioning properly. I then went back and did my maths and oops - miscalculated on the water output...anyhow...I'm over it - I'll just put the drippers on and water at 2:00am every few days and I wont retaliate with the neighbour - it will only make matters worse (now there - that's maturity!  )

[aussie]

And wouldn't you know it - it poured with rain last night - best downpour we've had for ages. Well I guess that will teach me!

[steve hawkins]

Seems to me that you need to go and a direct 'man to man' chat with your neighbour.  Leave the guns at home.

The direct aproach is always better - ask why he felt the need to call in the cops, when a simple chat was all that was necessary?

Or better still, get a sharp stick and stick it through the camper's radiator when he is next out.

I did not say that really.

Steve H

[Melena]

Hey Aussie, glad you finally got some rain.  What a relief!

We hadn't had any rain since early spring.  None!  Nada!   Zip!  And it we didn't get much rain last year (which resulted in all those fires the beginning of summer).  Add to the equation that it's been much warmer than usual.  

Finally, the rain started yesterday.  It started out slow, and then last night it started really raining in earnest.  And it's been raining all day, very steadily, with bursts of downpour.  Whew!  Thank goodness.  It's going to take much more than this to bring the ground water levels back up to normal though.  It may take more than 1 year of good rain to do that.

The plants sure love it.     Not good riding weather, but there are other things to do........  :-/ ......I think.