irrigation starts here

 

 

 

babbling brook ~ 07SE19

babbling brook ~ 07SE19

Both the west yard and the nursery are irrigated. A babbling brook supplies water to the west yard which drains to the nursery behind the garage. Water then exits the nursery, through the back yard, into the east yard. Before installation of the babbling brook could commence, in August 2006, the water suction line from the pond had to be repaired.

a repair (and a bit of history)

A suction line from the pond was already installed. It goes underground from the dwelling unit to the west wall of the garage then veers north and east to the pond. (This circuitous path was due to the original location of the pond. It had been right behind the garage before the dike was built.) The suction line is a 3.1 cm PVC pipe that runs underground from the pond to the dwelling unit. It was ruptured somewhere. Water could not be drawn through it from inside the dwelling unit. Alongside the suction line is a 2.5 cm aeration pipe.

To find the break, water was pumped into the pipe from the pond end. After many hours, puddles started forming all over the area behind the garage. Because he had installed the pipe in the fall of 2002, the contractor had an idea of where the underground line was. This and observation of where most of the water appeared led him to start digging on the south face of the north dike midway along the length of the garage. His guess was correct. However, the pipe was, for some unknown reason, at a depth of 4.7 m. Such water lines are usually around 2.5 m.

water suction line repair ~ 06JL13-00

water suction line repair ~ 06JL13-66

Finding the broken suction pipe required a lot of digging, including at the west wall of the garage, to locate the original lines.

water suction line repair ~ 06JL13-86

water suction line repair ~ 06JL13-77

The new pipes were connected to the original suction and aeration lines. And from where the break was to the garage was trenched and the other ends of the new suction and aeration lines were connected to the original lines.

Then all the earth was put back in the huge hole. It took a year for it to settle in some places.

After the pipes were repaired plumbers, who had been hired earlier in the summer, returned to finish connecting everything inside the dwelling unit.

bringing the water

watering in the water line for the babbling brook ~ 06AU04

watering in the water line for the babbling brook ~ 06AU04

With the loader on the tractor a trench was dug from the far end of the garage to the intersection of driveway and dike. After smoothing the bottom of the approximately 1 m deep trench it was watered to make the soil soft so the PVC pipe would not have hard chunks of earth against it that might cause a rupture when the trench was filled in. (There were/are two extra PVC pipes running from the dwelling unit alongside the main suction line; they come up inside the west wall of the garage. The additional length of pipe was attached to one of these existing lines.) The new pipe goes to the outlet point for the babbling brook. All that was left, when the soil was replaced, was a piece of pipe sticking out of the ground.

water line trench ~ 06AU04-01

end of water line ~ 06AU06-01

Water from the pond is also connected to three frost-free faucets on the west side of the dwelling unit. Aside from obvious utility functions — washing vehicles, et cetera — these faucets provide water for irrigating seed and seedlings, with hoses and sprinklers, in areas that are newly planted. The hoses can also be used during prescribed burns of the site.

And each fall, as night time temperatures start dipping below freezing, water must be blown out of the irrigation pipe to prevent damage from freezing.

where does the water go?

irrigation ~ 07NO07

irrigation ~ 07NO07

 

irrigation detail

irrigation detail

Water flows from the babbling brook into the wet area of the west yard. From there it goes through the west yard to the nursery behind the garage. A small removable dam just before the path in front of and beside the garage sets the water level in the west yard. A second dam, beside the path that runs along the back side of the garage, retains water in the reservoir, keeping it wet for extra rushes and water-loving wildflowers. A third removable dam, where the nursery drains into the back yard, sets the water level in the nursery. A secondary ditch runs from the back of the dwelling unit to the point where water drains from the nursery. This directs runoff from the dwelling unit roof through the back yard into the east yard.

It is possible to supply sufficient water to create a stream all the way to the culvert that goes through the south dike. However, since the irrigation is only necessary in dry summers, this might drain the pond. The plan, when the nursery is *planted* and water is required, is to provide enough water to the babbling brook that a periodic trickle will run out where the water exits through the back yard.

The network of ditches is set up so that the irrigated areas can be drained if needed by opening the dams; an essential aspect given that this is mosquito country.

a bonus

Inside the dwelling unit, pond water lines are connected to the toilet, a utility sink, and two faucets — one upstairs, one down — to which hoses are attached for watering indoor plants. Using pond water in this way significantly reduces use of potable water.

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