Thursday, May 10, 2012

First Swamp of 2012

The critters are gonna love this.  Got .25" of rain overnight...then another .23" from 6 to 7:30 this morning.  Musta rained right through the watershed that feeds my swamp.  All filled up and flowing out through the new (much lower) spillway, created when the dam blew last year.  The creek ran for 4 hours after it stopped raining.  Now I have a puddle that averages out to be  approx. 3' deep, 40' wide, and 100' long.   That's 12,000 cubic feet x 7.4805 gal/cu ft. =  89,766 gallons...a very big puddle from just under a half inch of rain.  I'm starting to re-think my creek pump/tank placement.

Ordered parts for 3 new Pepino II swamp coolers.
http://www.canakit.com/5-minute-adjustable-on-off-cyclic-timer-kit-ck191m5-uk191m5.html
http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?catname=&qty=1&item=16-1434
http://www.harborfreight.com/1000-gph-bilge-pump-66095.html

68,73,55, .48",W,0

9 comments:

rj said...

Very nice. Hope you can come up with an effective containment strategy for all that water.

Anonymous said...

would have loved be there last night arround... see creek/area...25", WOW dude...please establish an "internship" in Field Lab so people like me might go stay some days, learn, admire nature, BEST

everlastingblogstopper said...

What a useful surprise to wake up to for you and the critters in your watershed. I'd be interested in your thoughts on future designs for that water, other than for building and supporting habitat (which is an excellent function). The fact that you go from totally waterless for miles around to catching and storing almost 90,000 gallons of water is one of the delightful ironies of the desert. Brutal though, how quickly it all returns to the cycle.

Rev.JimmyLeeBob said...

More importantly, how much did you capture off the roof of your
industrial hacienda/greenhouse ?
I'm growing vegetables here in 10a
and the bigger plants such as tomatoes, squash and cucumbers,etc. like at least a gallon a day when mature. Since it's Texas, it's my understanding
that everything is bigger which must equate to more......

Quixote Kid said...

Rain!

I'm so glad it rained out there, when we were out there in April I could not believe all of the cactus, yucca and other desert plants that were dying. It was a sad sight to see.

Can I be one of the first to rent a creek-side apartment with vegetarian meals provide?

quercus said...

That's a lot of water. Have you thought of getting some equipment in and constructing some settling/containment ponds? I am in a part of the Little Colorado River drainage and have a seasonal (monsoon) wash/ small river. In my area rancher's build watering holes for their cattle by diverting portions of the wash to the ponds. Because of the clay soil these holes take along time to dry out. Perhaps a series of ponds basins could be constructed to not only save water, but to settle out sediment. Also if vegetative materials were planted around the pond to shade the water, evaporation could be limited. In ornamental ponds evaporation/algae growth are limited by using water covering plants. I believe 60% of water surface is the prescribed amount of coverage.

Allen Hare said...

So nice to get all that water. I, too, am curious about how much water you harvested from the greenhouse roof. I'll bet it was a lot.

You have a knack for putting disparate parts together into something wonderful. Looking forward to seeing the evolution of the Pepino II.

Off Grid R and D said...

Finally some rain, Great!! Maybe the area can get some more and come out of 'Exceptional' to 'Extreme' drought. Hopin!
I know your the Pepino swamp cooler man and I know you need to pump a lot of water but that bilge pump draws a lot of juice at 5.5 amps. How much water you need to pump? I see the timer which should help on juice draw. I got a friend doing one with a little 12v, 170 gph, 0.045 amp, fountain pump and a 10", 12 V 2 speed fan in the same cooler with a float and a gravity feed supply tank cooler.

Anonymous said...

need updated info on RAIN in the area plus pics please May 16/12