We began mucking out the silt and sediment at Grapevine in the afternoon of August 14th, after breaking loose new water at Railroad Spring.
On the 15th, after spending the morning at Railroad constructing a spring box and plumbing pipeline to the troughs, David continued at Grapevine after some accumulation of water overnight, also digging about ten feet deep at the south end of the pond .
Photo of Grapevine while checking our stock water and cows in Greasy on the 19th. The flow from beside the rock on the north end of the pond appears to be running 1/2 to 3/4 gallons per minute. At the south end, where the Gill cowboys rode in with shovels in 1939 to find water for the their cattle, David dug as deep as he could reach on the 17th where substantial water had seeped in overnight.
Even poetry cannot express my relief knowing we’ll have enough water for our cows, already ranging farther out to graze now sure of places to drink.
Ahhh……….sweet relief!
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Yes, it is good. The draught is very much a problem. I heard this morning on NPR that the ground water in places in California had dropped to 100 feet below the surface.
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With the population growth in California and agriculture drilling deeper, I can’t imagine how our underground water resources can recover. Even prior to these extremely dry four years, our declining water table was an issue addressed by many water agencies and companies experimenting with water banking where excess surface flow during the wet years was stored off channel and allowed to percolate into the ground. But replacing water resources that were captured during the Pleistocene era seems impossible to me, yet West Side farmers continue drilling million dollar wells knowing that it’s not sustainable. Listen closely to the last gasp of Manifest Destiny.
I don’t know, Tim, but all of us in California are going to have to learn to change our ways, and we have to a large degree during this drought, but we can’t take clean water for granted anymore.
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Well said John. Mitch Zeissler – Exploratorius posted a news link yesterday on California land sinking. Here is the link to his posting. https://wordpress.com/read/post/feed/10305816/785110517
I thought you would find this interesting.
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Thanks, Tim. Just like Las Vegas and who knows where else.
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I have family in California, so I have been watching with much interest their water woes. Best of luck for improved water resources. I know the state is going to need it.
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