Adding a Borehole to our Permaculture Project in Alentejo
Our borehole is done! Setting up our permaculture project and homestead, we thought the first priority was water. We have 4 small wells on the property, and last month we did our pond. Next and final step in order to be fully secure on the long term, knowing we are not and probably never will be connected to city water, was to do a borehole. This would provide us with enough water for the house and the veggie garden. Water is life.
So we contracted a local company our neighbor recommended and after agreeing on the price, sending the papers and getting the license, they came to do it a few days ago. It took them 2 days to dig it and set up the tubes. We have now 400-500 liters per hour available. 🥳 As doing a borehole definitely has an environmental impact, our idea is to be very mindful and only use what we really need. Trying to grow our veggies with as little water as possible, and slowly recharging the aquifer by making sure rainfall stays on the land and infiltrates in the soil. That means no plowing and planting a whole ecosystem!
Anyways, it was a great experience watching these 2 guys at work, they barely talked to each other and knew exactly what to do, when to do it and how to do it. We are now relieved that it went well, just as planned, because it is a big investment for us. Next step will be to install a pump at the bottom and then connect the borehole to the house, but that will be for next year. Our big projects for this first year are now done! 😀🤩
If you run a similar project and have questions about earthworks, boreholes, or permaculture, feel free to reach out!
