Earth tides; Fw: Pump drawdowns: [NatureNS] Freshwater

Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:56:20 -0300
From: "Stephen R. Shaw" <srshaw@Dal.Ca>
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&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt; neighbourhood.  This is no longer the
Hi Dave,
A really informative find from USA.  This report including the  
phenomenon of earth tides (distortion of the earth according to the  
relative positions of the sun-moon-earth) sounds like the probable  
explanation.  An extra height of 0.4 foot max (in Missouri) is not  
that much, but a careful observer like farmer Gerrits might well have  
spotted it and got extra water for a bit longer from the high points.
Patricia: you might want to relay this to the farmer if you meet  
again, and tell him to skip to near the end of the PDF file, looking  
particularly at the earth-tidal oscillations in height of well water  
in Figures 10-12.
Steve (Halifax)

Quoting David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com>:
> Hi Steve & All,
>    Sounds like an earth tides effect---
> http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/wrc/docs/whywaterlevelschange.pdf
> DW

>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "P.L. Chalmers"  
>>>>> <plchalmers@ns.sympatico.ca>
>>>>> To: "NatureNS" <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
>>>>> Sent: Friday, July 13, 2012 2:28 PM
>>>>> Subject: [NatureNS] Freshwater Shortages and Bay of Fundy Tides
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> For most of my life, my family home in Bedford was dependent on  
>>>>>> a drilled artesian well, as there was no municipal water supply  
>>>>>> in  our neighbourhood.  This is no longer the case, but I am  
>>>>>> still  acutely aware of how valuable water is, and curious  
>>>>>> about  hydrology.  I was in the Annapolis Valley last week and  
>>>>>> saw how  very dry the fields and orchards were there.  So last  
>>>>>> Saturday, at  the Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market,  I was  
>>>>>> asking some of the  farmers how they were getting on in the  
>>>>>> present drought.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I had an interesting chat with Greg Gerrits of Elmridge Farm.    
>>>>>> Since there was so little snow last winter, and since it was  
>>>>>> such a  dry spring, his normal water supply is down at least  
>>>>>> 40% from  normal levels.  He doesn't have enough water to  
>>>>>> irrigate more than  a few acres at a time.  However, he went on  
>>>>>> to explain the  influence of the Bay of Fundy tides on his  
>>>>>> water supply. He said  that the weight of incoming water in the  
>>>>>> Bay was sufficient to  exert pressure on water deep below the  
>>>>>> ground, even where he farms  (near Sheffield Mills, I think).   
>>>>>> The flow of fresh water into his  well improves significantly  
>>>>>> when the Bay is full of salt water.  So  he has learned to  
>>>>>> schedule his irrigation so that it begins three  hours before  
>>>>>> high tide, and stops three hours after high tide.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There are so many kinds of knowledge that a successful farmer  
>>>>>> needs to have, but it hadn't occurred to me that a knowledge of  
>>>>>> the tides was one of them.  I may not be representing this very  
>>>>>> well, but I found it intriguing; perhaps someone could say more?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Patricia L. Chalmers
>>>>>> Halifax

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