...with the sound of gurgling ditch water? ♪♫ ♪♫
This is a story about Penryn Hills, Clark Tunnel, and irrigation canals.
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In Penryn Hills, a beautiful pastoral community in the Sierra Foothills, and in the surrounding area, large-scale irrigation is made possible by the building of irrigation canals that provide "ditch water" the year around. Until recently, I had never heard of "ditch water" -and maybe you haven't either ("back East," special irrigation canals are a rarity as Mother Nature keeps things pretty green during the Spring and Summer months).
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Today, we decided to take a hike up the hill and visit the source of Jossy's irrigation* water and check on Clark Tunnel (no [known] relation). This would be a 2-1/2 mile hike RT.
* Irrigation water is also known as "untreated," "non-potable," "raw" or "ditch" water.
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These canals are provided and maintained by the Placer County Water Agency. The source of this water, like in most areas of Northern California, is the snow and rain in the Sierra Mountains. There are over 2000 reservoirs in California and many -if not most- dam the rivers and streams which originate in the Sierras.
To reach the "tap" on the canal which provides Jossy's irrigation water, we first hike up (yes...mostly UP) Clark Tunnel Road, then scramble up a dirt road to the railroad tracks near the tunnel (see second photo), along the tracks for a few hundred yards, then up another somewhat treacherous dirt path to a place on the canal that has 3 taps or collectors -a filtered pipe that runs from the canal bed to a small cistern and then into the pipe which runs downhill to the property. You can see a typical tap in the last frame of the first photo.
Water that is not tapped off eventually ends up in a community that collects and purifies it for use as "tap" water.
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And the music? For those that live in the West, believe me, the sound of gurgling water in nature is music to our ears...
1 comment:
Like me, when you hear the term "ditch water," you probably think of muddy, dirty water running through an unattractive ditch dug into the ground.
Not so.
As can be seen in the photos, this ditch is lined with concrete and the water appears crystal clear as it flows rapidly downstream. It is a little deceiving as it is still non-potable.
At the user end, the water at first appears a little muddy, but clears up in just a few seconds as it leaves the sprinkler head. The amount of pressure available is quite surprising -at least to me.
The user pays bulk rate for his/her share of the water and it results in a fairly economical way to irrigate.
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