permaculture

[Marimike6@cs.com]

In a message dated 11/29/2003 3:41:35 PM Eastern Standard Time, kfinigan@spots.ca writes:

>I'm fortunate. I live over a couple of hundred feet of fossil beach
>sand
>(eastern North Carolina). The rainwater doesn't even pause at the
>surface before soaking down to the water table. Wells are easy to
>dig and to maintain. We also have several aquifers down there, so if
>you get too many neighbors and your well water starts running short
>in a dry spell, you can just drill another hundred feet down and get
>the "first sip" of an untapped aquifer. I realize not everyone
>enjoys this blessing.
>
sounds like a race to tap the fossil water before your neighbours. Once its
gone, its gone - just like oil! Groundwater can also have quality problems -
e.g. agricultural runoff of pesticides and excess fertiliser (there is
almost always an excess)...causes blue-baby syndrome (lack of oxygen in
blood) in southern Alberta.

You're right on the button with that notion. North Carolina is fast-growing, and is drinking down its fossil water at far greater than the replacement rate. The first town to run dry will be Kinston-- home of the Shag and of Global Transpark. There is absolutely no awareness of this issue among boosters and politicians-- they all act like concrete evidence would just be a plot launched against them by atheistic enviro-loonies. So we're trying as hard as we can to grow even faster. This is our idea of being "progressive".

As to agricultural additives leaching into the groundwater,  no one in his right mind would drink from a well without testing first. When this water hits the river basins it results in massive fish kills during the warmer seasons (that's any time other than January and February). The farms hereabouts use up almost as much RoundUp as they do kerosene. And hog farms deposit as much nitrate into the ground as would feed an entire Asian country if it were converted into grain. So if you live in a place like Duplin County you do notice a little "tang" to the well water.

But we like it. It's our way.

M. Elvin