Thankfully, I have some experience in dealing with agriculture and water resources engineering, as I spent the later part of this morning hiking around the farm grounds with Austin (whose duties are to help oversee that whole operation) and examine existing water tanks as well as the site set for setting up new ones. Given that they do not want to wait long time for the base of the concrete to dry, they are going to be looking a quick-crete (which is a good idea). Thankfully, it’s not my job to get the supplies, merely to consult as the engineer of record.

At any rate, the idea is fairly straightforward. We will start with a large base big enough for six or eight tank (probably eight). While the tanks are being built, there should be a plastic tarp to keep everything dry, so that the concrete sets properly, since this is being done in the wet season. Then it was my thought to actually collect water into the tanks for the farm and not merely pump out river water, so that we could be more efficient and better use the rain that the farm gets normally and save it for when it is needed. That will require a bit more work, but no maintenance and very limited cost.

Austin’s job is to be the construction manager for the project, and he seems to be taking very well to it. As a matter of fact, the whole project reminds me of something from my own high school experiences. As an International Bacchalaureate student, one has to do what is called a “Group IV Project,” where students from all scientific disciplines (mine was chemistry) have to work together in some kind of project. Our project was, ironically enough, to build a storage and collection tank to water some unpromising plot of ground next to one of the halls of C. Leon King High School, where a few (somewhere around half) of the classrooms were devoted to IB classes.

What we are looking to build here is on a larger scale in size, but basically identical in plans, to the project we all had to design as high school students. The plan was roughly the same–collect water and put it in a storage tank to use for the watering of plants. It’s not a very complicated project, even with the water collection added, but it can be a very useful one for growing crops more effectively over a larger area, and that is the goal. Self-sufficiency, increasing crop yield, and related concerns seems to be the order of the day. It appears the only sensible action taken in the face of the madness and unceasing disasters of the present world, and its resulting pull on food prices. One must prepare as best as one can.