Sunday 29 November 2020

Water.


We in the 'civilised world' take water for granted. We turn-on the tap, and out comes clean drinkable water in as much quantity as we require. We water our gardens, fill our pools, and have labour-saving machines that uses the stuff as if there's no tomorrow. 

This was all fine when there were just four of us in our tiny hamlet; now there are many many more, and in summer anywhere up to about 50... all of whom use copious amounts of water.

Our water supply comes from a natural spring about 5 kms away. It is purified, pumped-up into a nearby water tower, then pressure fed to the houses. 

We've been advised that the spring where the water originates is far less generous than in previous times, and with all the excessive use it doesn't seem too far-fetched to imagine our supply slowly coming to an end. It does look as though at some time in the future, houses will need to make their own provision in order to guarantee a supply.

Digging a well is not difficult; one digs down whilst lining the sides with either bricks or giant concrete tubes. One goes as far as when one hits water.

My first farmhouse here had it's own citerne as did most other houses. It was a huge concrete lined hole, about 10 feet in diameter, and 30 feet deep, that was filled with water from the roof. There was a lovely old pump at one end of the terrace which brought the water up to just outside the kitchen door. A bucket did the rest. The citerne was always full.

I can see the day when such citernes will again be essential. With large fibreglass containers now easily available, installing such underground tanks would not be complicated. Having them filled with rainfall is another question. Global warming won't help.

Maybe in the future we'll all have to learn to be frugal with our water again, and treat it as a valuable commodity.  

I do hope I'm wrong.

30 comments:

  1. Mother and father visited us when we lived on our lifestyle block and we collected water from the roof which is common in country areas. Mother drank it quite happily until, one day she asked where the water came from. She always boiled it after that.

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    Replies
    1. Generally, as long as no light enters it should remain quite 'pure'. Just a bit of filtering and Bob's your uncle.

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  2. Don't worry. Le Clerc sell bottled water.

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    1. The only time I buy bottled water is when we have guests. I buy mini bottles of Perrier, and no-one ever drinks them.

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  3. It is going backwards for people to collect and store their own water. A reliable and sustainable supply should be secured. How far is it to the nearest town from where dam storage water could be piped to your village?

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    1. There's an artificial lake that was built by a consortium of farmers, for their own use, but otherwise any decent amount of water is about 20 kms away.

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  4. With the rainfall we've had in the last few weeks in Wales it's hard to imagine ever having to be careful of water usage, but, of course, I'm aware that it's not the same in other parts of the UK. I often wonder what gardening is like in the South East!

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    1. I can't remember when we last had any decent rain. We seem to have a few 'miserable' days now and again, but no real downpours.

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  5. We would love a reliable water supply. We live an hours drive from Rome, our water is from a spring half a mile above us. It is piped down but we are responsible for the shallow and often exposed pipes that regularly spring leaks caused by rocks, tree roots or cars parking on the roadside, such leaks take days to find. We regularly turn the supply off at our house and go to see if the meter at the source is spinning to check for leaks. Our meter is in a snake infested pit that we are expected to protect from frost. The only upside is that no meter reader will go near, most cannot even locate the meters, so often we pay a standing charge, for what I don’t know, and for a low estimated amount of water. There are 9:houses on this supply. In higher parts of the village there is no supply at all, people come down to the village centre to fill large vessels. In the valley homes have their own wells, they don’t seem to work on the mountainside.

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    1. Your supply sounds far worse than ours. We recently had a bad leak, and our plumber fed a new smaller pipe inside the broken larger one. All is now fine again.

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  6. Where I live is called "les Champs de Chant" (the fields of song), not because of birdsong, as I originally thought, but because of all the underground springs that "sing" on their way down the mountains. Our water is lovely and untreated (I believe) and because of that we can't sell it on to the nearby town should they need it. I'm very mindful of my water consumption, although having my newly-divorced son just move in with me I suspect that consumption is about to go through the roof!

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    1. There used to be a very old (1270) 'fountain' in our nearby small town which came directly from a very pure spring. Then some clever local builder built a septic tank soakaway onto the route of the underground water. Now there is a big sign saying 'Eau non potable' hanging from the ancient spout.

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  7. Yes I'm afraid we do take it forgranted here in the so called civilised world.

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  8. The old farm house I grew up in, had a cistern built in a corner of the cellar. It was located directly under the dining room.
    Had an Uncle who teased that we might fall in. Beast

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    1. I suppose most country houses (farms, etc) had to have their own supply. My people's house in Shropshire had one just outside the kitchen door; I imagine at one time it had had a pump too.

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  9. The previous owners of our French house sold its citerne to a neighbour. It always niggled Paul during hot summers when the neighbour pumped water from it to water his vegetables.

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    1. I'm not surprised; free water is essential for a veg' patch, etc.

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  10. I am forever grateful to Anglian Water for keeping me supplied with water. I also have a well here. A water supply is not something I just take for granted.

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    1. We all need to be aware of how fortunate we are, simply to turn-on the tap, and voila!

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  11. Our water comes in a pipe under the sea and now and again a yacht puts down anchor and drags it up breaking the pipe. Water cuts can last days The water comes from up in the hills . The old wells have more or less dried up. Boring down is difficult. Most of the island is built on very hard rock.. Also difficult when digging a septic tank. We struck rock after two metres.
    Some islands have their water brought in by tanker and often water is in short supply because of bad weather. We are lucky

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    1. No desalination plants? I believe taking the salt out of sea water can be very expensive, but it may come to that in time.

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  12. The rural town I live has no public water supply. Each home has a well. My well goes down 300 ft. and has been reliable with the exception of replacing the pump. That said, there is zinc in my water and I installed a home water filtering system because zinc causes pin hole leaks in copper pipes. The filter has solved the problem.

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    1. Zinc is also very good for you as it boosts your immune system. Pin holes in the copper pipes; not so good. Most internal water pipes are now plastic; it makes like easier for the plumbers.

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  13. Actually, you are not wrong. We lived in a house supplied for thirty years by a well. It failed the new owner within two years, and she had to stand the cost of drilling a new well. At least it was a successful dig.

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    Replies
    1. I think people will be drilling a lot more in the future!!

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