February fill-dike? Not in the south it ain't - Drought Warning !!

I see in the news that a large part of central and southern England is now officially at drought level.

BBC Link: BBC News - South East latest part of England officially in drought

Your thoughts fellow gardeners !

a-a

Oh, where I am - no problem, never is !!

 

I've just been reading that report and I'm in the middle of the area affected.

 

I don't understand why farmers dont sink boreholes and irrigate that way ...

that is what most/many farmers in Africa do, even when there is no drought

my first property was a 6 acre smallholding .... 1st thing I done was have a borehole sunk and a submersible pump installed .... I never installed an expensive irrigation system, but pumped the water into a large resevoir that was 6 meters high ... the tank had a level switch that automatically switched the pump on and off when levels of water in the reservoir were high or low

the pressure was strong and I could water the whole property with a hose

it pays itself off over a short period of time, and many homeowners have boreholes with sophisticated pop-up irrigation systems connected to computers

last year here in cambridge, we had a drought, and farmers lost thousands of pounds of crops because they were not allowed to water them

 

plenty of water in the Severn running into the sea?????????

 

the water taken from the ground is watered back into the ground so the water table gets replenished?

and bear in mind, that most parts of the UK are low lying .... as an example, cambridge is only 15m above sea level

 

We have been here before and we will be here again.
Floods usually follow dry spells. Its just a matter of time.

Rising population and everyone's higher usage is the problem, I'm willing to bet we use more water per head today than ever, add to that more people than ever, and you get to where we are now.

 

dont know .... I think, people are not fully aware of sinking boreholes in the UK .... people who I have spoken to, are not all that familiar with how it works

and saying that, it is not illegal to sink a borehole here in the uk (as far as I am aware) .... here is a company who drills:

Borehole Drillers

and its not like you are transporting the water far away .... you irrigare on your land where the water is extracted, so much of it returns to the water table

and here is the official publication (you need to seek permission first) and from what I have read, they are more concerned with pollution that with drilling and using water

http://publications.environment-agency.gov.uk/PDF/SCHO0303BFEK-E-E.pdf

saying all that, I don't know all the in's and outs of this at this stage, but it is not illegal when you have permission ....

I rent and dont own my property, but if I do buy a decent sized property with a good sized piece of land, (1/2 and acre plus) .... one of the 1st things I will do, is look at installing an irrigation system with a borehole, so as to water my garden

 

I'm willing to bet that most water used on crops/gardens in summer is lost by evaporation, hardly any will get back into the water table.

I've heard it said that summer rain, normal summer rain that is, has no effect on the water table.
We rely on winter rains, when trees and other plants are not active, to fill the water table.

Its the same old story, if we all had our own bore hole, then the water table would dry up, its only because we dont, that it still exists.

 

that is the case if you water at noon or during the day .... in South Africa, you water your garden during summer after 6pm .... the following morning, the soil is still damp

even here in the UK, I water my own garden in the (very) late afternoon

 

Hi Pete, yes, although I live in a water-rich area now, I am from your neck of the woods.
Now, a few years ago, when we here in N. Yorkshire were actually trucking water to south Yorkshire to keep the taps flowing, I could see the benefit of a National Grid of water pipes - (Decalare an interest here, as the former sales manager of a tube/pipe company, mainly involved with oil and gas) I, (along with others) suggested a similar arrangement for water, - well they can do it with gas, and petroleum, - why not water...?

a-a

 

Yeah I know its normal to irrigate in the cool parts of the day/night, but the plants take up the water, lets face it, that's why you irrigate.

The plants then transpire, and it all goes up into the atmosphere, good for the plants, but zero return for the water table.

If it went back into the water table it wouldn't be worth doing.:D

I did read once how many gallons an oak tree puts into the atmosphere on a summers day, its quite a lot.