Our water comes from water rights that originate in the Deschutes River, a major 250+ mile long tributary of the Columbia River. We direct the water to various parts of the ranch by using irrigation dams. The dams are nothing more than tarps with poles stitched into one end. Through the course of our nearly 6 days of water week, the dams are placed in various parts of the ditches which forces the water to overflow then pulled so the next dam can direct the water to another spot.
This is the beginning of our water week. Most of this morning I will be setting dams such as this one all over the property. It seems sort of silly since we had an inch plus of rain yesterday but in this country, you need to use your water or lose it. There will be one night where I need to get up a couple of times to do moves but happily, only one. I hate water weeks but without it our desert property turns back into a desert
instead of the lush pastures and hay fields that we have now.
so I guess it's worth it.
Hi Larry, I like this kind of post. Dad's a civil engineer and like to wax eloquent on the Truckee river water rights and the perc and mantle of the Tahoe basin. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I appreciate your visit.
ReplyDeleteI'm always amazed at how people can grow crops in a desert environment. A forest blooms in the middle of the desert in Israel due to this procedure. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteJoyce
http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/