One of the things we have in abundance here in West Wales is an almost unlimited supply of the wet stuff. It seems to fall out of the sky on a regular basis, although this summer has certainly been a lot dryer than the last couple of years.
The problem is, most of it is rainfall, a large chunk is runoff from the land surrounding us, and the majority of it ends up where we don't want it. We have some clay strata under the loose rock and soil, which means there is a lot of subsurface flow going in strange directions. Even if we've had a spell of no rain, this moving underground water is still, er, moving.
The Toy Shed sits in a little hollow at the bottom of the curtilage of the property, and in wet weather, pooling rainwater means welly-deep mire down at the lowest point. That's a third of the area with standing water.
I got to thinking about water, and how we could use it as a resource. Mains water is provided by Dwr Cymru (Welsh Water), and although they do a pretty good job of things - our water is lovely and soft - we have the problem of distance from mains, and capacity/bore of the supply pipe. If someone in the house flushes the loo or the washing machine starts to fill, there is a noticeable drop in pressure for anyone using a hose outside.
Consider then, the scenario of Mrs RT doing the laundry, me or Eco hosing down the machinery or topping up the pig's water trough and a horde of happy campers all wanting a shower or some water for drinking or cooking. Enough to go around, but you'll be getting a slow trickle rather than a forceful gush.
So our requirements are:
We also have a spring that feeds a large pond below the house, so that is a potential source of supply.
One of the common methods of dealing with surface water or runoff is to use a system of land drains. These are ditches or trenches which are dug across the land in order to intercept surface water and carry it off to somewhere else. With a little careful thought, and adaption with time as you see how the drains operate at all states of the tide, these can go a long way towards water management. Add in a few underground drains or culverts to link these land drains under paths, tracks or thoroughfares, and you can move a lot of water a long way so long as you move it generally 'downhill'.
As shown in a previous post, we managed to install a culvert across the track to the ToyShed which has mitigated a major part of the problem with boggy rutted ground and permanent mud down in the tractor yard.
This culvert drains into a 'moat' around two sides of the Toy Shed, which not only acts as a land drain, but provides a 'buffer' for the Willow Plantation and a breeding ground for the local frog population. The culvert is still providing a flow of around 10 litres per minute into this moat even after very little rain in the last couple of months, so we are sure it is subterranean 'flow' we are intercepting.
So it is this 'moat' I have been using as my source water for a few water harvesting experiments.
The problem is, most of it is rainfall, a large chunk is runoff from the land surrounding us, and the majority of it ends up where we don't want it. We have some clay strata under the loose rock and soil, which means there is a lot of subsurface flow going in strange directions. Even if we've had a spell of no rain, this moving underground water is still, er, moving.
The Toy Shed sits in a little hollow at the bottom of the curtilage of the property, and in wet weather, pooling rainwater means welly-deep mire down at the lowest point. That's a third of the area with standing water.
I got to thinking about water, and how we could use it as a resource. Mains water is provided by Dwr Cymru (Welsh Water), and although they do a pretty good job of things - our water is lovely and soft - we have the problem of distance from mains, and capacity/bore of the supply pipe. If someone in the house flushes the loo or the washing machine starts to fill, there is a noticeable drop in pressure for anyone using a hose outside.
Consider then, the scenario of Mrs RT doing the laundry, me or Eco hosing down the machinery or topping up the pig's water trough and a horde of happy campers all wanting a shower or some water for drinking or cooking. Enough to go around, but you'll be getting a slow trickle rather than a forceful gush.
So our requirements are:
- A domestic supply that doesn't suffer during peak camping periods
- Guaranteed availability of plentiful water during peak demand times
- Dealing with some of the 'unwanted' water we have sloshing about the place
We also have a spring that feeds a large pond below the house, so that is a potential source of supply.
One of the common methods of dealing with surface water or runoff is to use a system of land drains. These are ditches or trenches which are dug across the land in order to intercept surface water and carry it off to somewhere else. With a little careful thought, and adaption with time as you see how the drains operate at all states of the tide, these can go a long way towards water management. Add in a few underground drains or culverts to link these land drains under paths, tracks or thoroughfares, and you can move a lot of water a long way so long as you move it generally 'downhill'.
As shown in a previous post, we managed to install a culvert across the track to the ToyShed which has mitigated a major part of the problem with boggy rutted ground and permanent mud down in the tractor yard.
This culvert drains into a 'moat' around two sides of the Toy Shed, which not only acts as a land drain, but provides a 'buffer' for the Willow Plantation and a breeding ground for the local frog population. The culvert is still providing a flow of around 10 litres per minute into this moat even after very little rain in the last couple of months, so we are sure it is subterranean 'flow' we are intercepting.
So it is this 'moat' I have been using as my source water for a few water harvesting experiments.
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