OUR POND PUMP IDEA WORKED

As everyone has heard, the West Coast has a drought. Many of us have thought of ways to save water. Not washing our cars, not watering our lawns, using dishwater (gray water) to water our plants, and taking shorter showers. We came up with a novel idea after our last water bill.

We had filled the pond. During the summer the pond loses water from evaporation (the exact opposite happens during the winter rainy season when I have to pump out water)  and I have to fill about 1/3 of the pond every three months. The pond is about 750 gallons so 1/3 is a significant amount of water.

The last time I had to fill it, I got dinged on my water bill. If you go over a certain level of water usage you get a super charge. Because I used 250 extra gallons, I got dinged. We are trying to avoid getting in trouble again AND keep our fish alive.

At first we were taking buckets of the cold water from the shower before it gets hot. But that was getting tedious, I got costocondritous, I couldn't carry the buckets of water down the stairs. Then our brainstorming team came up with the idea of putting a big bin (with a lid) on the balcony, dump the buckets of water in the bin, then once it us full, put the dechlorination liquid in it and pump the water into the pond.

Today I tried this method for the first time. All week we have been filling the bin and today I pumped the 25 gallons into the pond. It took about 10 minutes total to set it up, pump it, and break it down.  Of course it would be best if it rained but I won't be holding my breath. The pond is down about 200 gallons so hopefully we can keep up by adding 25 gallons every 4-5 days.

Until tomorrow...