So, today, we planted seven American boxwoods, two 5' climbing hydrangeas, and laid fourteen+ pallets of zoysia sod...add this to the 100+ already planted that you might understand the true thirstiness of a two acre piece of land, planned as it is.
Many of our customers elect to have a well drilled which serves as a water source for the irrigation which helps satisfy the thirst of the many plants their property will support.
Atlanta has a very real history of great disparity between water demand, and water usage.
The water which supplies these almost seven million peoples is sourced from a handful of lakes and rivers.
Considering that Mother Nature has been quite capricious of late, these cups are, well, 'half full', more often, than not (literally)
Separating local, pay-for-use water consumption from that which supplies the flora mitigates excessive expenditures over the long-term, and serves to avoid compromising the water necessary for such activities as bathing, drinking and cleaning.
Additionally, water derived from outside public sources is not beholden to the usage restrictions we have faced, and will see, again.
Most importantly (at least to those of us in the business of horticulture), well-irrigation provides water not treated with bacteriological and protozoal inhibitors: these agents are not necessary for, and often compromise, proper plant growth.
So, it's so.
The well was drilled last week, and--today--the hydro-frackers arrived.
We've all heard of 'fracking', and the term has become somewhat derogatory with its association to gas and oil extraction, and the affect these processes have upon local environments.
It was a perfect time to educate myself, and (possibly) modify my personal bias.
The idea behind fracking is to forcefully expand fissures and flaws in the bedrock which lies, below, in order to facilitate greater transfer of liquids between the naturally-forming pockets and reservoirs in which they collect, and through which they may flow.
I watched as these guys ran a digital camera down the entirety of the 8"-wide bore: all 650' of it, in real-time.
The water table was at about 34', so I'll table the dilemma of "only so much water to go around" for another story--for another day--as there appears to be plenty of water to be had, but so few effective strategies to get it distributed equitably.
Stopping and making notations when a natural flaw in the bedrock came into view, the plan was to revisit these with a pressurized plug, and submit roughly 9,000psi worth of hydraulic pressure using only externally-introduced water from these points, all the way down.
Think of it as a rather longish straw, but invert it, in your mind . . . fill it with iced tea, plug the end, and blow into it.
Now, fill it with tea, again, but crimp it at certain points further from the end, thus will the effort increase, and resistance to the pressure be greater; a factor of the volume, as it is decreased.
Of course, we can't exert such extreme pressures merely with our cheeks, and straws don't usually have flaws unless crimped, but I hope you get the idea :)
No geysers, or explosions; just a relaxing of the semi-permeable rigidity of the granite bedrock.
More space equates to more volume, which equates to greater flow, on demand.
Pretty cool stuff, and inherently benign, as I came to understand it.
Now, my bias is purely my affinity to flora: the more water available when needed, the greater these plants will flourish.
Sometimes, Mom Nature just needs a little help.