Fernando and I have spent the last week installing a new irrigation system on 40 acres of transitional land. We were all ready this morning with our new pump, sprinklers in place, and seed sown in the beds over the last few days. The water tender turned on the water and the pipe leading to the pump had sprung a leak. This is a concrete pipe which some how now has a large hole (see picture below) and a split in it. A patch crew was sent to fix it but the pipe will have to be replaced. This will take five days. We do not have this time so the plan is to fix as best as they can, irrigate and then replace the pipe this winter. If it still leaks some we will direct the water to our trench where we placed our main pipe. We had planned to fill this trench with water to help settle the soil over it so the water will not be wasted. The irrigation canal will be shut down after October 15th so we are running short on time to germinate our pasture.
All in a days work. These problems do arise and we like to think we handle them well.
