We’re a drillin’ for water

The next stage of the garden renovations have taken place with the sinking of a bore to get water for watering.

Because of the water restrictions we are only allowed to water two days a week (Thursday and Sunday) and not between the hours of 9am and 6pm and once only on these days.

By placing the bore it removes the two day restriction meaning we are able to water twice a day if we wanted to, although the time restriction still applies. Not that I would water twice a day.

Most importantly it reduces the burden on the scheme water supply, after all, what is the point of pouring drinking grade water onto a garden.

The well, a PVC pipe dropped 15 metres into the water table below.

A stainless steel pump being lowered down the well.

Pumped to the surface, the water runoff.

The bore housing, now self contained and sealed up.

Laying the PVC reticulation pipe.

The problem with Perth is that we don’t actually have soil. Our ground is sand sand and more sand and it doesn’t really retain water. It’s not too bad if it stays moist but once it dries out it gets a silicone build up that stops water from sinking from being held.

It’s not uncommon to run sprinklers for 10 minutes and only wet about 1cm of topsoil with dry sand underneath. A wetting agent, usually a soap product will allow the sand to hold onto the water but regular watering is the best way to go.

The other problem with allowing the sand to dry out is the onset of ants which eat out the roots of plants and shift all the sand upwards. I won’t get insecticide to deal with this problem so moisture is a happy solution for me.