Bonsai and Water Costs

[Bretts]

This is a subject that I have given considerable thought ever since I read an article several years ago that suggested only 6% of Australia's water usage was residential, this was even inclusive of our residential power production. Out of the other 94% The bulk was for irrigation farming.
Some other points this article made was that irrigation farming made a profit on average of 30c per Kilo litre of water but manufacturing/industrial made a profit of over $3 per Kl of water.
This got me thinking about the residential water restrictions that dogged many bonsai enthusiasts especially during the worst of the drought ( hand watering once or twice a day I hear), are they really doing the country much of a favour? At a guess I was thinking that if we all did our best maybe we could reduce our usage by say 20%. Not a bad effort but this would actually only drop Australia's TOTAL usage by around 1%.
It seemed to me that if the country wanted to make any significant change in it's water usage then it should first look at reducing the water usage in irrigation farming. Now I have alot of respect for the powers that be and I am sure they are privy to more information than me. But I am totally confused why a dry continent such as Australia would concentrate most of it's water to irrigation farming at a profit of 30c per Kl of water when we are a mineral rich country and send those minerals off shore to be processed when we could make a profit of over $3 per Kl to process it here. So why would we put most of our water to work in irrigation farming
Suffice to say I ignored my councils water restrictions as I felt it was a total farce. Now this was when water was around 70c/$1.20 a Kl in 2007 when it had previously been around 30c Kl flat when the user pays system was brought in around 2010. Most residents did their best to follow the water restrictions and I can say out in the country many residents let their lawn die. I thought this was in empathy for the farmers doing it hard out here but noticed most city lawns were still green. It was depressing to see so many dead lawns on a hot 40+ day.
I felt I was one of the smart ones. I can see through the government bull and although I was careful not to have the sprinkler on out the front during non allowed times out the back I watered and sprinkled as often and when ever I saw need.
At the height of the drought I got wind that because the community had been using less water with the restrictions this meant the intake of money council got for water usage also dropped. So of course they increased the price of water to recover the shortfall.
This seems like a reasonable response looking from the council but I just saw it as an incredible slap in the face to the residents that had reduced their water usage. In return for using less water (as we asked) we will now increase the water cost to accommodate the loss of revenue because you are now using less water. This was surely a slap in the face to those that tried hard to use less water. "Okay thanks for using less water we will now charge you the same for the less water as what you were paying for all that water before
Then the drought breaks in most parts of Australia. Water restrictions are lifted and we use more water again. The council budget gets bigger but do they consider dropping the price of water again, don't be ridiculous. Now this Summer we have had surprisingly little rain we have all used heaps of water and the council is laughing all the way to the bank.
My last water bill was over $600 and that is a quarterly bill. It is now at $1.20/$2.40 that is about 100% rise in just the last 6 years and an over 600% rise in the last 10 years. It now costs me over $3 a day in water, I reckon half of that must be for my trees over Summer but I am unsure and will be keeping a closer eye on this.
It has given me added incentive to reduce my stock NOW and figure this must be a big consideration on commercial bonsai.
The figures I have quoted have not been clarified so I look forward to anyone clarifying, correcting or giving their opinion.
It seems water usage will become more and more of a consideration in our bonsai collections. My guess is my collection costs around $500 a year to water. About half my families water usage.
I have and will look into a system like Ken's that re-uses water run off but I don't see that as an option at the moment.

[MattA]

An interesting thread.. my perspective.

For almost 5yrs I lived on the edge of the Wimmera where it was dry 9mths of the year, I had to regularly buy water for household use, to maintain my bonsai I carted drums of water from the dam 300m down the block. 3 tubs set up side by side, 1 with water to soak the trees in, the other 2 with racks over the top to catch every last drop. I objected to having to buy water at what was then exhorbitant rates and lost many trees due to the high salt levels in the dam water.

Now I walk to the tap, turn on my council fed water supply, use as much as I like, as and when I like being mindful of any restrictions. I am more than happy to pay the $8/wk actual usage cost and maintain as many trees as I feel I am able to give the time to, as well as water features & more than a bit of garden. One of the benefits of living in an urban environment, just like the power to run a computer or a broadband service to be able to connect to the internet (neither of which I had at the farm & gee I miss it).

One thing I dont do is waste water on keeping a green lawn... summer just wouldnt be the same without a brown lawn this is after all.

[Bretts]

Don't confuse my rant with a non appreciation of all the government gives us such as street lighting sewerage and amazing water pressure at the end of my tap. But should they be crying water bankruptcy when it seems they could improve so much in other areas. It also begs the question why am I wasting my time with trees that will take years to progress when I could buy better established bonsai now? That trunk that needs 3 years to create a better trunk could be replaced with a trunk that is ready now. Does the day to day cost stack up to just upgrading now. A 100%+ water price rise must be putting pressure on the bonsai nurseries If I can feel the pressure on my collection how must they be feeling.
It comes back to many who say that you have to grow your own to have great trees. I am still not convinced of that but am out of the current market due to distance
I will always attack this hobby from all directions but water cost is becoming a big consideration.

[Scott Roxburgh]

...Out of the other 94% The bulk was for irrigation farming...So why would we put most of our water to work in irrigation farming

Brett,

Most of our water is used for farming to produce cheaper food for you to eat, reduce the water use in farming, and you'll pay for it at the grocery store/department store.

The water we drink has been treated, a big difference to the water used for farming, and much more expensive it shouldn't be wasted on lawns!.

I think dropping the size of the collection is the way to go.

[Bretts]

Correct me if I am wrong Scott this is were I am confused. If we can make over 10 times the money out of our water by being industrious instead of farmers could i not have the money to buy the food ten times over instead of trying to be a farmer in a dry country
Like i said I a sure I must be wrong through lack of information as those better than me have more and I am sure I am simplyfying it too much but I am confused?

[Mojo Moyogi]

Brett, for starters, $500 to water your trees for a year is chicken feed for someone that has no problems dropping a couple of hundred for a pot. Secondly it's super hard to empathise with someone who cheats on water restrictions and then whines about the cost of water. In my last 2 years in suburbia I watered hundreds of trees with recycled grey water, by hand, in accordance with water restrictions of the day and out of respect for my neighbours that had beautiful, well established gardens that were in decline throughout the drought years.

Cheers,
Mojo

P.s. it is a bit appalling that the sunniest, driest continent on Earth is primitive in regards to use of solar energy and water technology.

[Bretts]

You miss the point Mojo, I am not after your empathy Or anything else you have to offer

[lackhand]

Thought provoking thread, Brett. Though I live in the US, we face some of the same issues here, especially since I live in the sunniest, hottest part of the US. I'm sure the politics are a bit different and I'm no expert there, but goods and services provided by the government can generally be considered a monopoly. It's not like you have a choice of three or four companies to get your driving license from, and typically if they are providing water or power they mandate that nobody else can provide it. That allows them to charge whatever they want because you have no alternatives. I guess you could drill your own well, but there's probably a regulation against that if you live in the city/suburbs.

Your thought process is correct regarding allocation of water. Everybody is better off when resources are used where they are most valuable. This is the reason why so much manufacturing is done in China, where labor is cheap. They're better off for having jobs, and we're better off because we get things cheaper. This statement will no doubt be controversial, and there are definitely things where the price of the good should not be the main consideration.

The usual government scapegoats when things like water allocation come up are national security (If we start importing our food and a war cuts off supply, we will all die!) or protecting local industry/agriculture through import/export restrictions. In the US, we have farms that the government literally pays NOT to plant; other farmers raise less profitable crops because they are paid to by the government. None of that is helping food costs (since we pay for it though our taxes now too) or wise use of resources such as water. Who can explain that logically, and yet it happens all the time.

I agree with your thoughts on trees too, and it makes me think twice about the small nursery I have been amassing. Maybe I would be better off to sell some and get just a few really good trees. I know my wife would agree with the selling off, but not sure about purchasing a few expensive ones to replace them.

[GMA]

Hi to everyone contributing,

I live in South Australia where in our climate we're pretty sensitive to water issues due to our climate, and our reliance on the Murray for supply (although we've now got a shiny new expensive urban de-sal plant and massive water charge increases to boot). Most people don't realise the enormously disproportionate (and excessive) share of water that irrigation takes. In South Australia we've been forced to be highly efficient with water because we've been living with a cap on our water take from the Murray for a very long time (I think it's since the 60's but don't quote me on that).

Your original comments about disparate returns on water use is interesting - but the same disproportionate returns on use also occurs within the irrigation industry between different crops. Cotton and rice farming appears to be pretty water intensive and there's a reasonable question over whether they are appropriate in a country like Australia. Water price rises are actually a very effective way of sorting out whats efficient and what isn't in terms of water use.

My opinion is that irrigation farming is as reasonable a use as any other, we have a massive multi-state diversified industry all along the Murray. It's really important to the Country overall. The only thing that shits me is (mostly in other states other than SA) the inefficient use of water by irrigators. Flood-technique farming is unacceptable, a waste of water and is basic stone-age technology. The thousands of kilometres of leaky unlined water channels that transport irrigation water to farms is unacceptable. It seems like some of these idiots have never heard of pipes to stop the thousands or millions of kilolitres of water that leaks back into the groundwater, raising the water table in irrigation areas that mobilises salt and degrades a lot of our valuable farmland. Flood farming for dairy pastures sends a multitude of cow crap back into water-ways affecting its environmental health.

Other general industry use of water are typically pretty efficient. In comparison to these uses residential water use is a pittance, and user pays is a pretty fair system once a basic water allowance is provided to everyone.

Water restrictions on residential use during dry times doesn't achieve a lot due to the relative use numbers. Investment in removing poor irrigation practices would be far more effective.

In SA we have a lot of rainwater tanks, and grey-water re-use for some activities such as toilet-flushing is becoming common. High-value private use such as water for bonsai would always seem acceptable to me.

But of course i live in an urban area where water delivery is guaranteed, so I have a lot of sympathy for those people in non-urban areas whorely on dam water.

I don't know what other states have, but in South Australia we have had some extensive areas of wetlands built since the 1980's which cleanses stormwater run-off and we have developed a (relatively small) but still significant amount of cheap water that is supplied for industrial purposes. This is also mixed with recycled urban wastewater and is piped to new local residential developments (sub-division size) on the Northern side of Adelaide to use in a dual-water pipe system to supply for garden use (it has slightly higher salt content than fresh water) and toilet flushing. For anyone who is interested, google salisbury council wetlands.

[Bretts]

Thanks for the thoughtful responses it is interesting to hear it from other points of view. As I said I am sure there is lots missing in the way I look at It.

How many members have had a go at working out what their collection costs to water. In the past I have read my water meter before and after watering and I figured I was using about 1 kilo litre on each time I watered. So at today's cost that is $2.40 each time I water. I tried to check that again yesterday and the meter did not click over. Just checked the meter again and it is starting to click over, so I guess the whole house is using under a kilo litre a day.
I think I will start to keep a bit of a log on this.
Our council now chargers $1.20 for the first 400 Kl and $240 there after I tried to find a list of council chargers to compare but could not find one. What does your council charge and how much do you reckon you use on your trees?

[MattA]

Try paying $10/Kl @ 2001 prices for household water.

I suggest you turn off the hose & use a watering can, install drip trays under your trees like Kcpoole & others have done then you will get a better idea of how much water your actual trees use as opposed to how much goes on the ground, path, lawn, benches, floats away in the air if using sprinklers etc etc etc.. it might surprise you how little water is really needed to keep each tree growing strongly.

[Mojo Moyogi]

1000 litres a watering sounds like way too much for the amount of trees you have there Brett.

Cheers,
Mojo

[Scott Roxburgh]

Correct me if I am wrong Scott this is were I am confused. If we can make over 10 times the money out of our water by being industrious instead of farmers could i not have the money to buy the food ten times over instead of trying to be a farmer in a dry country
Like i said I a sure I must be wrong through lack of information as those better than me have more and I am sure I am simplyfying it too much but I am confused?

Rather than just water costs, other costs such as land costs and labour need to be considered as well as demand. Irrigated farming is usually done where both land and labour is VERY cheap, manufacturing is usually done is higher valued areas to reduce transport costs and attract higher skilled workers (higher costs)

The benefits of a democracy/free market economy means that people can use their resources for the highest and best use, taking into consideration their capacity. If they are not being paid for the work they put in, they will move to another industry. Also irrigated farmer do not necessarily have the means to go into higher cost manufacturing, or can quantify the demand for manufactured goods.

Basically there a many factors at play rather than just water cost. If we had a central body (Govt.) controlling the use of resources (that is, directing water away from farming towards manufacturing) we'd be in a much worse place than letting the market forces determine what happens.

[Josh]

Try paying $10/Kl @ 2001 prices for household water.

I suggest you turn off the hose & use a watering can, install drip trays under your trees like Kcpoole & others have done then you will get a better idea of how much water your actual trees use as opposed to how much goes on the ground, path, lawn, benches, floats away in the air if using sprinklers etc etc etc.. it might surprise you how little water is really needed to keep each tree growing strongly.

Was thinking the same thing. A lot of water runs straight out the bottom of the pot. How much water runs straight off your roof, through the down pipe and out to sea. Put a tank in and use that. If you are really worried about the cost of water there are heaps of ways to save it. In our old house we had a bog garden which caught the run off from our parking area. It went through the bog garden, through a sand filter and into a pond. If that over flowed it then ran down a usually dry creek bed we made and onto the rest of the garden. Only ever topped the pond up 3 times in five years. We had lovely green gardens and a pond with very little water use.
Our chock shed had a small tank to water the chooks and use on the veggie garden. Even the cubby house run off was used.
We also used the grey water during summer.

Josh.

[Bretts]

Ha ha Bugger the watering can Matt, I have the best pressure comming out of my hose and I water everything in about 15 minutes. Like I said I may look at a catchment system in the future but that is not possible at the moment.