How are California photographers dealing with the water shortage? In particular, I have customarily given my completed prints a five minute hypoclear bath and then placed them in the print washer for an hour. My wife complains that this uses too much water, and she wants me to stop printing.
What thoughts do others have?
David Michael Bigeleisen
stop watering lawns in southern california. that should take care of it.
Divorce
I tray soak prints over night after a printing session, dumping and replacing with fresh water a few times. Then hypo-clear, or similar, for twenty minutes, and then into the print washer for an hour. I collect the rinse water (bypass the City sewer) outside in containers for garden/plant use. In years of plentiful water supply, I do not bother collecting the water in containers. This year I will.
We have city water for the house and darkroom and a high producing well for everything outside. Even though we are on a well we're still fairly conservative with the well water - just because.
Tell your wife that if darkroom water use had any meaningful effect on total water use there would be plenty of water because there are probably on 7 darkrooms left in all of California.
Of course, you could tell her that you'd be glad to re-plumb the house so the darkroom rinse water could be recycled to the bathtub.
If she happens to golf, you could just laugh hysterically at her for gross hypocrisy.
If California doesn't get some badly needed snow or rain this summer is going to be a nightmare of savage fires up and down the state. Look into fire-retardant foam to use in an emergency.
I am on a well in NC, so I do not have to conserve water. None the less, I do something similar to Merg. I accumulate the prints in a large tray, and do 3 dump/refills a half hour or hour apart, and flipping prints at least once every cycle. I then soak O.N., and repeat cycle twice. Then squeegee and rack.
Mike
Exactly and stop trying to gain access to the Great Lakes. We will not drain them for California.
Originally Posted by vinny
Most of the water problems are the result of nothing more than excessive utilization of a finite resource. When you are faced with sprawling population unchecked with common sense pragmatism on important issues such as water supply the news media wants to blame it on anything but the real causation. Case in point are places like Phoenix that barely get any rain and continue to build like there is no tomorrow knowing full well that their water resources are being diluted month by month. As those that own the water rights upstream refuse to bail out those downstream the first phase of crisis will be self imposed conservation. The second phase will be strict allocation with over use penalties. The third phase will be necessary reduction of the concept of a continuous sprawling metropolis and being forced to finally face the music. This is not about politics or ideology. Communities that are doing the most whining on this issue mostly ignored it hoping that it would go away. This is a problem that can be easily solved it we leave the emotion on the sidelines and use the brain that God gave us.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks