Our water pump's intake valve is bobbing nicely out there in the deepest part of the dam at the bottom of our block, thanks to two weeks of rain totalling 630mm (about 25in). Water flows down to our valley from nearby Mt Panorama, feeding half a dozen or more dams before it reaches ours.
All of them must be overflowing by now because the often dry creekbed below our dam is not yet the raging torrent it can sometimes become, but it's flowed steadily for more than a week now. 
Good to know my 2010 garden will be well watered, even if the price we are paying right now is murky-coloured water in the toilet! That's because we pump dam water up to a holding tank at the top of the block, from where it flows by gravity down to the cistern as required. This saves precious rainwater for more important uses. It also means the cistern doesn't lose its water supply if a power failure should shut down the pumps for a while. Fortunately, that doesn't happen very often any more. But it's something you must prepare for when you live in the countryside in a region where tropical storms can cause occasional havoc.
2 comments:
Sounds like a great system. We have bore water but no manual pump - if there is a fire and the electricity goes out we won't be able to use them. I keep telling my better half that he has to do something about it.
Our gravity-fed holding tank for dam water probably wouldn't be much help in a fire, as the pressure is not that great. It's enough to fill up the cistern, though, and flows to one outdoor tap (near my potting table). The other six outdoor taps operate directly off the pump, and it's a strong farm-style pump, so delivers great pressure...as long as we have power. I guess we are lucky not to live in an area with a high bushfire risk, because I don't think anything would ever persuade me to jump into that muddy dam! But it was years before we got this fabulous system and I have to say, it has revolutionised my relationship with this property! Keep after your better half! (Or buy lottery tickets!)
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