There is something about water pressure that screams "civilization." The rest of the technological markers don’t come close. Humans have been using fire for hundreds of thousands of years. So all the variations of that (light-bulb, oven, toaster, etc) are passé. But, to have a waterfall at your disposal? That is the highest marker of human achievement. Unfortunately, our gravity fed water-catchment system works perfectly in every sense except for that one. It takes an eternity to fill a coffee pot. The wind blows our shower water away. I have to get about a foot away from my garden to effectively water it. Washing dishes takes an entire evening. Until yesterday…
I finally pulled the trigger and installed a Davey Torium 14-45 booster pump (just the name makes me giddy). After just one burst valve and a drenched Iphone we were ready to go. We went from a pressure gauge that never moved to a solid and consistent 70 PSI. The difference is incredible. Our shower literally roars when you turn it on. Washing dishes has become fun. And watering the garden? I can do it all without getting off my deck. The wild chickens in the yard don't stand a chance against my hose.
I went to sleep thinking that we’d finally reached the pinnacle of off-grid living and joined the ranks of the civilized. We had every amenity that you could ever hope for in a grid-tied house. But something was wrong. The water pressure felt forced and artificial. Our barely dripping faucet used to be a constant reminder that we could live with less; that water pressure was a luxury that we didn’t need. The slow and laminar flow of the water out of our faucet was a daily check to take it easy. That water couldn’t be rushed. That it would move with a pressure mathematically pre-determined by the height from the waterline in the tank to the faucet. And there was no bending that.
But I did more than bend it. I took our laminar flow and cranked it up 700%. The roar of the shower and the kickback of our faucet are now reminders that, no matter how hard we try, we are not peacefully co-existing members of this Earth. We are hard-wired to lord over the elements and all of nature.
The scary part is that I could undo all of it with a simple turn of three valves. Cut off flow to the pump and let gravity do it’s thing. But there is no going back now. As much as my Thoreauean ideals tell me to turn it off, I can’t do it. Something deep inside of me just woke up. And I can admit that I love my screaming pipes.
