Along with the network of rabbit and mole tunnels, there’s a growing layout of water pipelines below the grass at our Field Centre. We’ve started to plot their positions to help future diggers and water dreamers. Here’s our second chart:
Here’s our first scribble of the new water system, designed when all the water trickled through broken terracota field drains and the kitchen water supply came through a thin rusted iron pipe from the main spring (Oak Spring):
Our Field Centre’s ‘2B’ water tank is being built to store and condition road run-off water. Previously, and prior to the tarmacadum surfacing of the approach road, it was a simple dirt track which absorbed 90% of rainwater; now, like all hard city surfaces, torrents of rain run off it onto our top pastureland along with some overspill from old silage pits.
This changed the area, made it sodden at times of downpour and killed an established tree, Cedrus atlantica f.glauca (ref. grid J35/305).
To combat this, we have developed a water by-pass to move this run-off water through 100mm slotted land drains inside a pea gravel filled trench (French Drain) protected by geotexture.
Some of the water will be diverted along a 100mm ground pipe into Tank 2B to be diluted with Spring Water from the West Spring
At the moment, 2B tank looks like this (photo below) but it is being disguised so it looks like a traditional Field Spring (see sketch following photo):
Sketch (below) of disguised Tank 2B:
Fifty years ago, the water from Oak Spring reached the main farmhouse kitchen through a one inch iron pipe – the remains of this original pipeline are still visible (2020).
Work continues to renovate the original Spring with its two giant oak trees at its sides and to replace the early supply line, adding settlement, distribution tank (see below diagrams), baffle filtration and UV filtration.
The filtered water will be stored in a large recycled concentrated orange juice tank, kindly donated to our charity by Colin Evans, which has been stone clad (See photo below).
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