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Eco-Living: Drawing Water - Cisterns & Wells
SageRainWillow
Posts: 2,221 Member
The cistern would be an above ground reservoir that would hold the water we draw from the well. Part of it would be clear so you can easily see how much water is left. The cistern feeds all water utilities. Sinks, dishwashers, toilets, washing machines, tubs, and showers. When one of these appliances are used, the water level in the tank will drop.
Drawing water: Animations take the longest to make, so I would make the interaction very simple. They stand in front of the well, using both arms to hoist up the bucket, and then swipe to add the bucket to their inventory. Buckets of water can be dragged to the cistern and dropped in, raising the water level each time.
Gardening: if a sim has buckets of water in their inventory, they will use them to water the plants. 1 bucket = 1 plant. No change to the animations. They would water like normal, but the buckets would disappear from their inventory. They could still water plants, even if they are not using well water. Sprinklers could be introduced which would automatically use well water.
Reuse washing machine water: After a load of wash is complete, there could be an option to click on the machine and "Collect Reusable Water". This would just be the same swipe as the well and the water bucket would be added back to inventory and could then be put back into the cistern (good filtration system included?) or used to water the plants instead.
Using well water would decrease overall household bills. If you let the cistern run dry, your house will just pull from city water, but you will see less of a savings that week.
Households can opt out of using wells and cisterns, they just wouldn't be as Eco. Bonus points if the Wishing Well from Romantic Garden could be added for drawing water, but I would expect a less ornate one to come with the pack.
Thoughts?
Drawing water: Animations take the longest to make, so I would make the interaction very simple. They stand in front of the well, using both arms to hoist up the bucket, and then swipe to add the bucket to their inventory. Buckets of water can be dragged to the cistern and dropped in, raising the water level each time.
Gardening: if a sim has buckets of water in their inventory, they will use them to water the plants. 1 bucket = 1 plant. No change to the animations. They would water like normal, but the buckets would disappear from their inventory. They could still water plants, even if they are not using well water. Sprinklers could be introduced which would automatically use well water.
Reuse washing machine water: After a load of wash is complete, there could be an option to click on the machine and "Collect Reusable Water". This would just be the same swipe as the well and the water bucket would be added back to inventory and could then be put back into the cistern (good filtration system included?) or used to water the plants instead.
Using well water would decrease overall household bills. If you let the cistern run dry, your house will just pull from city water, but you will see less of a savings that week.
Households can opt out of using wells and cisterns, they just wouldn't be as Eco. Bonus points if the Wishing Well from Romantic Garden could be added for drawing water, but I would expect a less ornate one to come with the pack.
Thoughts?
5
Comments
And some cisterns. These are piped to the home and also collect rain water. (In case we ever get weather
Rainwater collection is much more eco friendly.
By law, all new houses where I live, must have rainwater collection, for use in the laundry, flushing the toilet, and watering the garden.
Some places take things a step further, with homes having a water recycling system, with shower and laundry water being reused for flushing the toilet and watering the garden.
And then there's a place near me, that takes it even further, with the water going back into the river system.
Well, California has almost no water. They rely on other states because of their crisis. I agree with your stance on rain water. I would hope that if Seasons is ever implemented, it would include filling the cisterns naturally. But until that happens, wells are more eco-friendly (and cost-friendly) then relying on the city water system. Where I live, everyone has a well and a septic system. So it's a way of life here.
Not really.
And as califorina has proven, when everyone is pumping water out of the ground, that water can run out pretty fast. Not to mention that with everyone havng wells, it can easily cause the groundwater to become contaminated.
As for the game, I would 200% rather see rainwater tanks, than wells... but then we would need rain in the game.
Given how much energy is expended on a city level to clean and purify drinking water, wells can be more eco-friendly. Plus, the chemicals used to treat our city water make waste that runs off and pollutes other water sources. Well water is essentially rain water that has been filtered -naturally- by the ground. Of course there are areas of the world that don't have enough rainfall or ground water to make wells a good option. But this is the Sims
The catch is for people living close to areas, like old military bases or rail yards for example, well water is Not better and you end up with increased illness and cancer clusters from ground contamination that isn't filtered out but is instead added into the rain water as it soaks through the ground.
Which is why rainwater is batter than a well, although if in a region with a lot of air pollution even rainwater would need filtering.
Not all of us Californians were blind to how limited underground aquifers can be when there is not sufficient rain to replenish. Some farmers have successfully changed how they water their crops while neighbors with the same crops blame the government for the problem rather than acknowledge that flooding orchards to water trees is not best practice. In other areas there are people who have turned their yards into low water use xero scape environments with native plants while others cling to the idea that a patch of perfectly manicured green lawn is worth the fine and water heavily whenever they want allowing water to run down the drain. It's not just individuals the same diversity can be seen in businesses too.
I will agree that constantly chemically treating water isn't all that great and that needs a good alternative, especially as seen in Flint Michigan chemicals can interact with piping used to get water from plant to tap which can cause other problems.
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