IT WORKS

Drought came to Western Massachusetts, and the half acre pond I created, that then nature filled with life, has nearly dried up. My fish, nine to begin with, were down to three, floundering in a few inches of muddy water. In desperation I opened an old shallow well, dropped in a sump pump and connected a one inch pipe to run the water 200 feet to the pond. The old well was not up to the dry-spell and, though the pump ran for a few minutes every 25 minutes, it could not keep up with the heat of the day, the evaporation and the soil's thirst which competed for every drop. Then I remembered and invention of mine submitted to the Create the Future Design competition called NEVERWATER PLANTER. It was a simple contraption using a solar panel to charge up a battery during the day which turned on a dehumidifier during the night, drip irrigating the soil around it. I took the dehumidifier close to the pond, using a long extension cord, ran the dehumidifier at full power. Instead of letting the water collect in its tank, I hooked up a hose which drained the water directly into the pond. IT WORKED. A steady trickle, added to the, by now struggling sump pump, allowed the water to remain at a sufficient level for the fish to survive. So the invention works, add the fish are safe. The rains should soon come and fill the pond again.