work has finally begun
The problem
Site work has begun!
Digger work for the first of our Nature Based Water management areas began on Monday the 1st November at the Henrys dairy farm!
Our site works contractor Arnie Harkness has made excellent progress and can be seen digging the final swale on the 16th of November
The swales were completed on the 19th of November. A remarkable achievement considering the challenges the weather threw at us. Following the rain ground conditions became very sticky and Arnie had to use all his skill to complete the digging work.
The swales are 8 metre wide, 1.5m deep channels.
Swale full of water, banks to be planted
They are designed to retain as much water as possible to allow our nutrient hungry plants, which are planted up the banks and between swales, to absorb the nutrients from the water within the swales.
Each swale is connected by a 12” pipe which can be adjusted to control the water level in each swale.
We now move onto the farmyard, where pipework is to be installed to bring all the yard water to the system.
We have begun planting our Willow trees at the bottom of the system, kindly donated by CAFREs Loughry college. The willow area at the bottom of the system will finally ‘polish’ the water after it leaves the swales portion of the system.
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