When your dam runs dry... dig a new dam

Here is our problem:

Plus we have a problem of a "scrape and fill" dam, which means it is very shallow - about 1.5 meters in a typical season.

Dams that are shallow evaporate quickly. A dam 3 meters deep will typically lose 60% over Summer while one 5 metres deep will lose 40%. So a 1.5 metre deep dam will lose...... everything!

So we have decided to fix the problem by pushing in the dam wall and digging a new dam.

This is fundamentally driven by the current dam being built over a stone reef which make digging down hard, and by the fact that the current wall is like a dike in Holland. It is unnecessarily high and aesthetically ugly.

The new dam will provide the following outcomes:

• Capacity of 4.5 Ml
• Deep
• Can swim in it during Summer
• Aesthetically integrated with the landscape
• Can be seen from the house as a feature

This approach was conceived by us but confirmed by both a local water expert and by the contractor who will dig the dam and move the earth.

Future posts will show the process.