Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 3 Western Australia, Series 3
Volume 3
Number 6 November-December, 1954 Article 18
11-1954
Water conservation on the farm Water conservation on the farm
R C. Rowbotham
Department of Agriculture
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Recommended Citation Recommended Citation
Rowbotham, R C. (1954) "Water conservation on the farm," Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 3: Vol. 3: No. 6, Article 18.
Available at: https://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/journal_agriculture3/vol3/iss6/18
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WATER
CONSERVATION ON THE FARM
Donnybrook Farmer's Ambitious
Undertaking
By R. C. ROWBOTHAM, Horticultural Instructor
Pig. 1.—The main wall and portion of the excavation
r p H E R E is no sounder guarantee of agricultural prosperity t h a n a n adequate supply J . of good w a t e r - a fact t h a t should be fully appreciated a t the present time when, following upon a n unusually dry season, m a n y farms are already experiencing water shortages. This description of t h e m a n n e r in which Wilfred Dillev a n d his son Serfs' tackled their water conservation problems may serve as a n incentive to other South- w e s t farmers in similar situations.
The Dilleys have a mixed farm a n d orchard property a t Upper Capel in the Donnybrook district. To guard against periodical water shortages they decided to dam a broad, r a t h e r shallow, creek bed which carried a small winter stream feed- ing into t h e Capel River. The average n a t u r a l depth of the gully was from 6 to 7ft.
Pig. 2.—Cutting a channel below the main wall to seal off old watercourses
but as, according to Mr. Dilley's calcula- tions, the creek drains a n area of about 20 square miles it appeared to be ample to fill a fairly large-sized reservoir.
Excavation was commenced in April, 1953, using a T6 tractor fitted with a 7ft!
bulldozer blade. Approximately a n acre of excavation was completed t h a t a u t u m n
and a wall 12ft. high and 3f chains long was built across t h e gully, with wings following t h e n a t u r a l curve of t h e gully r u n n i n g u p - stream for about five chains. The main r e - taining wall was 50ft.
thick a t t h e base, tapering to about 10ft.
in width a t t h e top and was built of good clay well pugged. A spillway was cut a t one end of t h e m a i n wall and t h i s was faced with cemented iron- stone.
The work occupied Beris Dilley a n d his
T6 tractor for about 130 working hours, during which they pushed up about 6,500 cubic yards of earth.
When the dam was filled to overflowing it impounded almost seven acres of water which ranged in depth from 12ft. at the dam to about 6ft. higher up the gully. The capacity was estimated at about 11,000,000 gal- gallons.
Being inexperienced in dam construction, the Dilleys soon found that they had made a few mistakes. Firstly,
they had not stripped the over-burden be- fore building the walls, and secondly, they had not allowed for the fact that in the bottom of the gully were some old courses of the stream partly hidden in the clay and filled with a porous sandy silt. Through these there was a continuous seepage under the wall.
To remedy these faults it was decided to pump the dam completely dry during the summer of 1953-54, the water being used to irrigate 16 acres of their orchard through a sprinkler system.
The dam was empty by February 11, 1954, and the Dilleys then decided to
Pig. 4.—The bulldozer working on the main wall 708
Fig. 3.—Some idea of the size of the excavation may be gained from this photograph showing Mrs. Dilley in the foreground
deepen the whole excavation by about 4ft., strip the walls and reface them to a greater thickness. To effectively seal off the old sand-filled water courses a channel was cut right across the bottom of the dam close to the foot of the main wall. This channel had to be about 7ft. deep and 13ft. wide and was filled with good clay.
The foot of the reconstructed retaining wall was extended to overlap and com- pletely cover the outer edge of this filled channel.
The new main wall is now 90ft. thick at the base and 17ft. in height. The wings were also raised about 4ft. and widened.
To enable them to carry out this extra work the Dilleys de- cided to purchase a larger outfit and this part of the project, which entailed the moving of 14,000 cubic yards of earth was carried out with a TD18 tractor fitted with a 12ft. dozer blade. Beris and the TD18 put in 110 hours working time on this second phase.
The capacity of the dam is now estimated to be about 17,000,000 gallons, but the Dil- leys are not yet satis-
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lied. This summer they intend to empty t h e d a m again, deepen t h e excavation still further to give a 20ft. depth of water at the d a m which it is hoped will lift the capacity to something over 20,000,000 gallons.
This t h e y consider should give them sufficient water to irrigate 30 acres of o r c h a r d u p to t h r e e times, depending on t h e season, a n d to give t h e m enough water for 30 acres of lucerne yet to be planted, a n d 10 acres of summer crop potatoes.
To this end they have already installed along t h e orchard fence 1,300ft. of main line a n d about 700ft. of portable sprinkler lines which will be added to later.
LEAD ARSENATE RESIDUES ON EXPORT APPLES AND PEARS Growers, packers a n d exporters of fruit a r e reminded of t h e serious view t a k e n by t h e various Health Authorities in the United K i n g d o m of lead a r s e n a t e spray residues o n apples a n d pears. The Ministry of Food, Food S t a n d a r d s Committee, has recently reviewed t h e position a n d has recom- m e n d e d t h a t all local Health Authorities uniformly enforce limits of 1.4 p a r t s per million of arsenic trioxide and 2.0 p a r t s p e r million of lead on apples and pears. It is therefore necessary t h a t growers apply lead a r s e n a t e sprays a t t h e minimum effec- tive c o n c e n t r a t i o n a n d wherever possible use a l t e r n a t i v e sprays. In this respect later sprays a r e more likely to leave residues t h a n early sprays a n d in particular lead a r s e n a t e should n o t be applied close to the picking date. I t is not possible to set a final d a t e which is necessarily safe as this depends on m a n y factors including the n u m b e r a n d t h e concentration of sprays applied, t h e a m o u n t of fruit growth and t h e climatic conditions following spraying.
T h e use of a n oil spreader is undesirable as it increases t h e risk of lead arsenate resi- dues.
Growers a n d packers are advised t h a t if a n export inspector detects visible residues of a n y n a t u r e on lines presented for export t h e e n t i r e line will be rejected. Chemical analyses t o check t h e level of residues will be carried out in all States throughout the season.
Every individual grower should realise t h a t in t h i s m a t t e r h e h a s a n obligation to t h e industry.
\m Hi A P H I D S
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' G A M A P H E X ' CONTROLS
Woolly Aphids on Apples 9 Stately Grey Cabbage Aphids and Green Peach Aphids on Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli • Aphids on Beans and Peas • Aphids on Citrus Trees • Aphids on Flowers and shrubs.
A v a i l a b l e in 2 o z . or 1 p i n t b o t t l e s f r o m y o u r usual S u p p l i e r .
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