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HEMET: Water district eyeing test site

19.05.12

Eastern Civil Water District this week asked the city of Hemet to consider entering into an pact where the district would build an 80-acre pond near Diamond Valley Lake to assay the feasibility of using recycled water to irrigate golf courses.

The panel heard the proposal during its May 8 work study session and the item is likely to come back for a ballot in the coming weeks.

Under the proposal, Eastern would lease a piece of land precisely east of Diamond Valley Lake from Metropolitian Water District, which owns the lake barely south of Hemet.

For four years, Eastern would use the pond as a “demonstration site” to assay how reclaimed water impacted ground water. The water could then be pumped to close by golf courses, providing them with an irrigation option that did not drain from the fresh or cause water resources used for drinking.

“This is more of a scientific exercise,” Eastern Underling a ally with General Manager Behrooz Mortazavi said. “This is an element in the bigger carbon copy. Not having recycled water in this area would be a disadvantage for the area.”

Source: Press-Enterprise

Eco-homes and green scenery in sustainable community; includes HGTV 'Green Home'

19.05.12

ATLANTA — As a day misstep, Serenbe is bliss, a fresh grass-redolent, shockingly restful visit to the country only 30 minutes from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

But what was once perfectly a chance to feed a horse a sugar cube and shop the local farmers make available, has recently transformed into a research odyssey. Spending the day at the sustainable community of Serenbe has morphed from a scant country idyll into an occasion for intensive green research.

As idea houses go, the HGTV Unripened Home 2012 is a great place to start if you are building or renovating with sustainability in mind. The half-hour haunt tour, which runs through June 24, offers a bonanza of green materials and tips, from a caboose counter made with seashells and Sweetwater bottles to outdoor furniture created from recycled cheap milk jugs. Designer Linda Woodrum transformed a 50-year-old cedar shift for oneself “headed for the landfill” she noted, into a coffee table and two oversize mirrors. Metal chicken silage bowls became striking wall art in the home’s Georgia room — a untrained take on the front porch.

Source: The Republic