The first infrastructure project we undertook after our land was fenced and terraced, was to locate and fortify a water source. This isn't a well in the traditional sense, in that it doesn't draw from groundwater, but is fed by an underground spring. We can even make use of the nearby stream to channel water into our well. It's really more of a recharge pit than a conventional well, but serves as the source to water our crops in the dry season. Eventually we need to plan out swales and a 2-step tank system but as of 2017, this was the main water source we had for tea making, cooking and watering plants when it wasn't raining.
To start with, we had a water diviner determine the location of our water source using some combination of mystic ancient arts and science. We then hired a machine to dig out the pit there, that sure enough was connected to an underground spring, an idea place to place a water source for our land.
We also bought a small petrol pump to get water out from the pit. The petrol based pump was a fraction of the cost of a solar pump and is only needed in the dry season. I hope to eventually have swales and other earthworks that will irrigate our land naturally from the abundant rainfall. As a start, we used the petrol pump to get the job done. It took a few tries to get everything working right. If the pump worked, the pipes leaked.If the pipes worked, the pump stopped. Murphy's law in action. We finally managed to get the entire assembly working and the triumph of doing that is echoed in the faces of the workers.
It soon became clear that our pit had to be fortified to protect it from collapsing or eroding in the heavy rains and other forces of nature. I was adamant that we don't use cement as a good number of local farmers have, simply because it isn't a local material. Kodaikanal is boulder territory and it makes sense to use the materials we have onsite to the best of our ability. To do this, we hired a local mason who was excellent at cutting our boulders by hand, and making them all fit together.
To begin with, we used our pump to drain the pit, and cleared it of rubble and mud to form a square shaped base.
The sides are fortified with rock walls, with the rocks simply stacked on top of each other. Each rock is cut from a larger rock with a chisel in such a way that the pieces interlock with each other like a jigsaw puzzle. Smaller rocks and pebbles then plug in the gaps. Plumb lines are used to ensure the walls are straight. The well is built up in layers, starting from the bottom. The mason even included stepping stones to descend into the well if needed. Slowly, all the sides are fortified.
The last step is to place earth bags on top and bury the inlet pipe from the stream so that it doesn't get disturbed. The pipe can be disconnected from the stream side if the well gets too full.
The well measures around 20 feet in length, breadth and height. The entire build took around two and a half months between July and September of 2017. There is some seepage in the cracks between the rocks, but it isn't necessarily a bad thing as the surrounding plants get a drip irrigation of sorts. So far the monsoons and stream have replenished the water levels. We need to see if the water holds in the hottest months of March-April and if the evaporation/leakage is too much we will need to fill in the gaps in the rock wall with a lime plaster.
The next step is to plan swales and rain water collection tanks. As this well is on the bottom of our land we should also consider a tank on the top of our land which can be filled from this well, and gravity feed everything below. This was a great start in addressing our water usage, and there is a lot more yet to come.