permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>]

>1) Does someone know of an organic cleaner for water lines?

I don't know of anything strong enough to dissolve grease and hair that
isn't going to be pretty toxic; even the "organic" lemon-based cleaners are
quite toxic at high concentrations and are manufactured by processes that,
at large scale, are no more earth-friendly than those used in making
commercial drain cleaner. Draino is just sodium hydroxide, originally
derived from wood ashes and used for millennia by both indigenous and
industrial people to make soap, so the chemical itself is a natural
substance. Sodium hydroxide breaks down almost instantly in a large amount
of water (so rinse the drain well) and in soil it recombines with
carbonates, nitrates or any other anion to become either inert or
fertilizer. You wouldn't want to apply vast quantities on any given spot,
but on the grand scale of environmental no-nos, buying a can of commercial
drain cleaner is less damaging than the car-trip to the store to buy it.
There may be an enzyme drain-cleaner out there, but enzymes remain active
far longer than Draino, and may actually be worse for the environment. I
support your search for earth-friendly solutions, and am glad you want to
know what's in the stuff you use, but in my book, here's a place you can
relax a bit.

>2) An organic solution to lower the pH of irrigation water?

I use a similar logic here. Commercially, people use hydrochloric acid,
which, again, is made by a nasty process that is nasty primarily because of
the scale. Occasional use is pretty harmless (small amounts of chlorine
turn to gas). Repeated application will put chlorine on your soil,
resulting in salt buildup when it combines with cations to make NaCl, KCl,
etc. But rains will leach away any salt buildup except in the desert.  I
believe the organic certification people (any out there?) don't object to
HCl. Another way to lower pH is with calcium sulfate (lime sulfur) which
also is considered organic most places (sulfur will make your onions and
garlic taste really strong). Lime sulfur breaks down to sulfuric acid,
lowering pH. That's how most pH-droppers work, by breaking down into acid.
I have alkaline well-water, pH 9, so I face a similar problem. My solution
has been to build up the organic matter to 15-20%, which buffers the soil
pH and keeps it at a steady 6.8 or so even with the alkaline water. I have
added gypsum to my soil occasionally, calcium sulfate, which yields calcium
(hurray!) and sulfuric acid. Your friends would do well to work on the soil
(adding organic matter) rather than on the water--anything that helps
buffer pH will solve the water problem and enrich the soil at the same
time; stacking functions. Constantly adding a chemical to irrigation water
is tedious and is high-input, anyway. And they should consider developing a
pond, which shouldn't be alkaline (I'm assuming they irrigate with well or
spring water, unless they've got an unusual alkaline pond or river).

Toby