One of our first lessons in physics is learned when we are kids playing in puddles in the spring. The first lesson was . . .
about gravity. Things fall down towards the earth not up.
When we played in the puddles we learned we could drain some areas if we moved a little dirt and let gravity drain the little puddle downhill. There are still a few engineers that have trouble with this one.
A farmer’s field is easier and earlier to work if it is drained. Drains can be surface ditches, the land can be graded into a gently sloping field by using a land plane or sub drained with field tiles.
At harvest time, if a field is well drained it dries out faster after a wet spell and can be harvested sooner than a field that is not drained. In a well drained field, plants send their roots deeper to get adequate water and with deeper roots, plants can stand a dry spell longer because their roots can acquire water long after the surface of the field dried out.
The pioneers came to this country by boat propelled by wind and floating on salt water that could not be used for drinking. Because the average person can live only three days without water the little ships carried enough fresh water on board to last for the entire trip to North America.
On some of these little ships, rain water was collected to use for washing and even drinking if the voyage took too long. When our pioneer ancestors settled here, some continued to collect rain water from the roofs to water the garden, wash clothes and themselves in because rain water is softer and contains something that makes gardens and crops grow better than well water does and requires less soap to wash.
Many older houses collected rain water from the roof and with eavestrough which directed the soft water into cisterns in the basements. This soft water was pumped up by hand from the cistern to a water tank on the second or third floor from which it flowed by gravity down to be used in flush toilets, for washing clothes or anything that required soap.
Back a few generations, the soap was also handmade in the home and hence soft water was a huge benefit to allow the household to use less soap.
The cistern usually held two or three thousand gallons so the household could get through a dry spell or most of the winter when there was no rain to collect. The fresh drinking water was usually carried in from a spring, creek or a well which was pumped by hand.
Some houses were close enough to a creek which flowed all year long and the farmer could install a hydraulic ram in the creek. Only a large flow of water flowing over the ram created enough pressure for it to push a small amount of water for hundreds of feet and even up a steep hill to be stored in large water tanks in the lift of the barn or upstairs in the home. Then this fresh water could flow by gravity to feed water bowls for watering animals and supply the kitchen, laundry, and washroom.
Some farmers found a fresh water spring on a hill close enough to the barn or house to allow piping the fresh spring water to the house and barn to be stored in high water tanks in the house and barn so that fresh water could again be used for both farm families and animals.
Farmers have great respect for our fresh water and before building a new barn, a deep well is drilled to make sure that adequate, safe, fresh water is available to satisfy the needs of the farm.
On many farms today, water that is used for washing milking equipment is collected and reused to water crops.
The phosphate based soap used in the milk house can be used in the fields to reduce chemical fertilizer purchases and at the same time reduce fertilizer runoff into streams and rivers. A recent study in New Zealand showed that excess fertilizer runoff into our waterways feeds algae and other water plants which are contributing more to methane emissions than burping and farting cows do.
Most municipalities were started close to good springs, creeks or rivers which could supply safe fresh drinking water. The best gift that can be given to a small village in an under developed country is a well that can supply safe drinking water. When our armed forces will be installed in a foreign country where drinking water is questionable they take a mobile water purification plant with them.
Today we, our animals, the crops that we grow, and the firemen who protect us all rely on an adequate water supply.
We live in a country with more fresh water than any country in the world. Why do we drink bottled water?
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations. gladcrest@gmail.com
