Californian farmers test ways to store water underground

Science Iulia Postelnicu
http://stocknewsusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/vineyards-8a88931af694ee3ac37250b130584faa9155c133-s800-c85.jpg

A manager from California tested six years ago a system that prevents floods. California is prone to floods, especially the fields.

Don Cameron started an irrigation gate at a river next to his farm. In that period, due the heavy rains, all the vineyards in the area were flooded and affected the plants.

“We started in February, and we flooded grapes continuously, for the most part, until May,” says the manager. For years, him and the ones owning land in that place used the water for irrigating their crops.

Because there were periods when they have so little water, he thought he could beneficiate from floods and use it. Only after three months since he came up with the idea, Cameron saw results.  He flooded the area, but his grapes weren’t at all affected.

Now, after so much years since he had the idea, people started to do the same. This week, large parts of California were flooded, so many that owned lands chose to do the same thing as Cameron.

The manager thinks that California’s future is in this idea. “If we don’t store the water during flood periods, we’re not going to make it through the droughts.” It’s a win-win situation, during the drought, people will have water for the crops and during the floods, the plants won’t get affected. Plus, it saves lots of money.

Helen Dahlke from the University of California, worked with many that decided to flood their fields this year.

Because of the climate change, storing water underground is a great idea. Instead of snow, California gets more rain, which doesn’t help.

Who would’ve thought years ago that Cameron’s idea would save the crops and the fields now.