The rain has come...the rain has come! (Awimb away, awimb away...)
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Finally, after months of dry, hot weather which has singed all the grass and frazzled the village, we have just had two, heavy down pours which has lasted both Saturday and Sunday night! Woo!
On Saturday evening, the tribe were all chatting about naked sunday and what we would do on our day of rest after a busy week on the showers, whilst enjoying the almost full moon and the few stars poking through the clouds. However, not long after I had climbed into bed; the night sky clouded over, the heavens opened and constant pitter patter echoed on my roof throughout the night! I did wake up a few times from a couple of rain drops on my face through my window but this was an exciting moment that we had all been waiting for…
As new tribe member Cheryl on Saturday chatted to us about it being a rainy summer back in England, we all felt lucky to have had the warm, Fijian sun on our backs all through the months of May, June, July and August. Ironically, Cheryl did jokingly say that she normally brings the rain wherever she goes and I did say ‘Let’s hope so! Its about time we get some rain. The island needs it!’ As we traveled back, little did we know what was in store later that night…
Last week, the team decided that we should go on another journey to Vuni Moli, a village on Mali to collect 1000 litres of spring water from a very old, Fijian man and we had even emptied the water barrel and buckets ready for the trip! We were also concerned about Poasa’s water tank too in the Fijian village as this was almost empty. The gardens especially have also been suffering and a lot of the plants have been crying out that they need more water. When Sue was here being Official Garden Waterer, she made several trips with Moya, Cathryn and Kaz to Pupu’s little bath (a small, natural basin which fills up from the run off from the rocks) on the secret beach to use our natural resources and fill up our used plastic bottles! A good example of reusing and being resourceful.
Dan (the current Wavu and August Tui Flapjack) and I also had a big discussion about our water on saturday afternoon sitting on the top of the white water tank admiring the almost complete showers and the incredible view. Sitting up there was extremely breath taking and made me really appreciate the island from a different perspective. The birds that look like swallows were darting about and the sky was a beautiful glow as the sun was setting. We could see the turquoise, glistening sea through the leaves to our left as well as look over to the palm trees and specks of sea to our right. A really beautiful and peaceful place to sit and observe the island (and see who’s feeding the chickens!) We sat chatting about what we should do when the white tank overflowed in the rainy season and how we could collect the excess run off to be prepared for the dry season next year. We measured the tank and it was 1 foot, 7 inches. Almost getting to that crucial foot…definitely a trip to the spring next week…
We also talked about creative projects we should do when the rain comes and if we should invest in another green water tank as water has been getting extremely low in the last month even though we have encouraged the tribe and team to use sea water as much as possible and we have been super vigilant with how much water we are using. We even now have a large barrel of sea water in the kitchen which we use for our washing up and pot scrubbing which has saved a huge amount of fresh water this year. We also have a similar system for hand washing in the toilets where we fill up a huge container each day with sea water as we decided to turn the fresh water tap off back in May to again save our precious water.
Mariah, July chief also made a brilliant job of extending the catchment area up on the hill recently and Sustainability Ben has spent time mending the corrogated iron structure to gain maximum catchment space to be prepared for the dry season in months to come!
So, back to the weekend… we all woke up to the continual sound of the rain and some tent lovers were earlier than others! Dan woke at 5.30am and was busy pumping up the kitchen tank to the tanks on the hill and refilling this with the water from the old vale water butt whilst the kitchen was aglow with tea making and breakfast awakening. The white tank was measured again…suspense…dun dun da! A whopping 2 foot 6.5 inches meaning the tank has filled up 11 inches from last night. Water crazy bombastic!
The traditional buildings with reeds such as the chiefs bure, Eremoni and the family bure did find little puddles and leaks but this can only be a good thing as September Chief Paul is planning to patch up the roofs this week with new reeds. At least we know now where to put extra reeds and prevent excessive leaks in the rainy season….good timing!
It was an exciting day as although it was overcast in the morning, the sky cleared and gave us a burst of sunshine! All day, trips were made to the gushing waterfall that has been out of use for months. The sign swizzled back and forth and the eco soap lathered….an amazing sunday treat! The sea was also unusually still and calm, the air was warm and comforting and the trees and plants looked happy and content! Almost a thank you back to nature for providing the precious rain. After a clear day, the clouds returned last night and let more water down! Far too exciting! The change in seasons is starting to turn…
Comments
It really does sound exciting Amy and a wonderful turn around.
woohoo!!! vinaka na blog, amoo!!
and, yes, i think the addition of another green tank up top is really critical. while the cachement and barrels off the vales are good for laundry and maybe plant watering, it’s not suitable for drinking or washing. and there’s no reason not to collect more rainwater during the rainy season…
in the meantime, enjoy that blissful waterfall!
Hey Ami
Great blog – feel realy excited for you being there and finally getting a good downpour. Am selfishly pleased that the plants have at last had a good soaking and I hope the ones that looked almost dead have come to life. It would be great if someone could take some pictures to post.
Vinaka
Sulu Sue
I can smell the excitement from here. A dry island with first rainfall is like christmas. great news – vinaka amy, i like your water tank views as well – a little bit of Laurie Lee…
So glad the rain has finally come, thought it was touch and ago nearly a month ago when i left, let alone another 4 weeks down the line. Get your dancing shoes on Amy and bring back more rain – i heard the penguin dance is exceptionally good!
Does anyone know, or can measure, the inside diameter of the tank?
If someone can get me this information I can give you measurement units for the measuring stick that are calibrated in liters.
Knowing the number of ltrs used per day will enable a far better judgement of water use to be made at times when rainfall is scarce.
thank you for the post. My experience on the island was in late feb / early march, when water was plentiful. Thanks for doing a great job relating what the island is like when it is not so plentiful.
Enjoy the waterfall, Only place I have taken a shower with a wide open view of the Pacific
JAYDUB – i had a go at this sometime last year. With my maths gcse, i somehow figured that the tank has a capacity circa 36000 litres.(and since the calculation, it tallies with capacity and volume delivered (27000) in apr 07)
using the ‘dipstick’, on island team can work out volume left, though they have to be aware of the maximum depth of the tank – i cant remember the exact height of the overflow pipe (im guessing the same height as the top of the vertical wall)
but a quick headpoke inside the tank and they should be able to figure out the height of the pipe, and therefore calculate maximum depth and volume of remaining water.
failing that, im back on vorovoro in nov, so can have another bash….
(i recorded water levels every couple of days last year to check on usage and estimated water availability – and quantified each rainfalls load into ‘days of water use’ but i guess that clip is to remain on the cutting room floor of the shine offices…..shame!)
Vinaka Amy. The rain was very much appreciated and needed.
The tank has been measured using the inside diameter of the tank rather than the outer diameter to get a more precise calculation and the exact height of the overflow pipe as this isn’t the height of the outer wall and would therefore give us a false sense of capacity.
The height of the overflow pipe is 6ft 9 inches or 206 centemetres.
The diameter of the tank is 15ft 5 inches or 470 centimeters.
This equates to 35,740 liters of water held at full capacity.
This therefore means that when it comes to measuring the water levels which I have been undertaking daily so we know each day what the situation is we know the following:
1cm = 173.495 liters
1 meter = 17349.5 liters
1 inch = 433.737 liters
1 foot = 5204.844 liters
This therefore means that todays current amount of water equals 7807.266 liters.
We also have a green tank that all the water that is caught down in the tribewanted village is pumped up to. We also check the levels on this daily.
The current On-Island Team are aware of the water levels and critical points so that if it was to ever reach this we have plans in place to sort the situation out.
Vinaka
Glad the water situation is going to get better now the rain has arrived. As I’m arriving beginning of Oct. Do you now expect rain every day? what will weather situation be like? Having endured UK summer was hoping for some sun!
the simple solution to monitoring the water is to install a water meter on to the pipe that immediately exits the big tank before it is divided off to certain areas of the site. they are available in Fiji but you have to go through the government to get them, it proved to be a bit too convoluted. however they are reasonably cheap here in england, all i need to know is the pipes diameter and ill send one over, im sure marau could fit it.
if it was checked every day it would show (like a pedometer on a car that records the miles driven) exactly how much water is coming out of the tank.
this will show how much is being used, and also when to start serious rationing.
Woop Woop amy rain
wish i was there to celebrate with you on th tank looks so much fun…........aww i miss being excited about simple things. Come on the rain xxx
Bula sia Rogelio! The rainy season is meant to start in November but we are currently going through the transition between dry and rainy season so getting a bit of everything! So although I can’t guarantee scorching sun every day in October, I am sure there will still be plenty of sunny times! It was really hot this morning and then clouded over this afternoon with a little shower and this seems to be the pattern at the moment. The days are still very hot although the evenings are getting chillier so it might be worth bringing a jumper and something warm to sleep in.
Hope this helps anyway and we are looking forward to having you on the island very soon!
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