Water, water, water

JodieDownUnder

I'd just like to mention water. Seeing we are experiencing drought/fires/high temps/wind in a large part of our country, just how important water is. I believe it's super important to plan for water storage, water availability when setting up, buying or refurbishing your house, farm, land etc. I live in what was once considered a safe rainfall area, roughly 1500 mm/ yr or 60 inches. We have 140,000lt rain tank capacity, 3 dams and a bore. We don't farm any stock and have a reasonable sized veggie garden. We are very water conscious, it is a special commodity. It makes me feel safe, knowing we have that resource, to keep our veggie garden watered, for fire protection and to keep alive trees and shrubs we've planted in recent years. Our once permanent creek is dry, our dams have dropped to the lowest levels we've seen. Our drinking water/house supply is still at healthy levels and our bore just keeps on giving and for that I am truly greatful. Always remember that it doesn't matter what sort of farming one does, you are in a hopeless situation without this wonderful resource.

merlin44

@jodienancarrow Thank you for this important reminder. "Once you carry your own water, you will value every drop." We so often take having plentiful water for granted. What if the faucet is turned and no water flows?

LaurieLovesLearning

We live in an area where you are extremely lucky if you have a well. Groundwater is hard to source here. We have a well, and it is now full (it doesn't take long when watering a garden to go dry), but no longer hooked up, but we would like it to be again. We hear that it used to give large amounts of water, but by the time we got here, it was limited due go aging of the wooden cribbing. At the very least, it would work to water the animals. The contaminants municipalities put in the water affects them for sure & gives the milk a salty taste.

We ran into issues one fall when it completely dried. Nobody answered calls when we wanted the cribbing redone. It was disheartening. It is an old well and needs the old wood cleaned out to be more reliable. Needless to say, our temporary borrowed water tank was exposed to the cold. Winter was going to set in quickly & we needed water. Unfortunately at great cost, we had to hook up to the (yucky) municipal system, which at the time, exposed us to something bad (a municipal employee slipped up and mentioned it once as she was worried for the kids health...something connected to beavers in the water source), as well as all of the usual junk they put into water.

At this point, we drive to get drinking/cooking water from a spring and time it if we can so that it isn't an extra drive just for water. It is 25 minutes from home. We would like to hold it in something other than "food safe" plastic pails, but haven't yet found an affordable & portable alternative for that purpose.

If our municipal water is no longer available for whatever reason (we are the first to notice, end of the line and uphill), we will fill up whatever we can before it is gone.

We also hope that we have enough stored drinking water & then skimp on it, using very little until service is restored.

We have often wondered, especially in this past dry year in our area, what we would do if all water dried up. I suspect that we might see what is possible in the quarter of land north of us. There are stories of a capped artesian well that produced an enormous amount of water in a little time span...but a person would need permission and then search the quarter for the underground water reservoir.

I remember hauling pails of water to our tub as a kid and having sponge baths in that shallow bit. We have done that here & there even in our more recent history. That could happen again in a heartbeat if there was no hydro for pumps, or no water to be easily had.

Yes, water is something that is being wasted and what other there is is being further contaminated. I hate spraying season as it certainly is hard on the available water in our area. They used so very much to spray their poison, and it is so unnecessary. Fresh, healthy water is precious and should be treated as such.

Torey

@Laurie Is the land in question (quarter north of you) privately owned? Have you thought of having a dowser look for the capped source? Might be worth the expense if the water supply is as good as rumoured.

blevinandwomba

We are not short for water in my area, but it still concerns me. Most if not all the people in my town have wells, a creek (usually) runs around the perimeter of the town, and there are some springs a few miles past. Still, if the power was out for any length of time, we'd be in trouble. Most of us(myself included!) would not have access to our wells without electricity. Hauling the creek/spring water several miles up the hill would be quite the ordeal for most folks. Many would have difficulty sanitizing the creek/spring water. Things would get unsanitary really fast. I mentioned it to a friend one time, and she said, "Such-and-such up the street has a hand pump." I think she was trying to be lighthearted, but I couldn't help but think that one person with a hand pump won't do for the whole town.

Yes, people in third world countries deal with bigger water issues than this every day, and there are some good solutions, I'm sure. But after the trouble has already started it is a little late to start educating people. I just wonder how many people would get sick before we came up with a workable solution.

I'd love to bring this all up at a township meeting; I don't think that would go over well.