Dew Ponds - survival water

[monkeybird]

http://www.rexresearch.com/dewpond/dewpond.htm

The water collectors known as "dew ponds" were invented in prehistoric times, but the technology is nearly forgotten today. A few functional dew ponds can still be found on the highest ridges of England's bleak Sussex Downs and on the Marlborough and Wiltshire Hills, and connected to castle walls. They always contain some water that apparently condenses from the air during the night. Gilbert White described a dew pond at Selbourne (south of London), only 3 feet deep and 30 feet in diameter, that contained some 15,000 gallons of water which supplied 300 sheep and cattle every day without fail.

I heard about his concept while reading "Sarum" a wonderful novel by Edward Rutherfurd, a well researched novel that describes life in England from the neolithic period to the present. There is a great deal of information about how people survived over time. Anyway, the writer described dew ponds. Having never heard of them and being concerned about survival I did an internet search, and low and behold found information about how to build one.

My only question is will it work in the U.S. and where do you find the necessary clay.

[EX121]

WOW I have never heard of this being used there, but I have heard of dew collectors being used in Chile & Peru on the Altacama desert. I feel another internet search coming on.

[ANVIL]

I wonder if this could be used in America? We have a wide range of climete's hear so I do not see why we could not use them. Thank you for the good information. Downloading now.

[Bearman202]

Speaking of water, here in Missouri when you're walking around in the woods you will occasionally see a limb that's grown in a weird kind of way. i.e. in a way other than what you would think nature intended. I asked around once, and was told that the Native Americans would tie a limb to the base of a nearby tree to indicate that there was water in the area. They would find a spring or other water outlet and grab a small tree nearby and tie one of the branches. That way, when they came through later, they could find water. If it had been long enough for the tree to grow a bit, they could do it from some distance too. Now, when I see a branch growing in a way that makes me think it was tied at one time, I look around and usually am able to find the water they were indicating. At times, you have to walk an expanding circle around the tree, and you may have to dig a bit for it, depending on the time of year or whatever, but it's usually there. I don't know if they did that in other areas of the country, though. Anybody?

[EX121]

I did a bit of internet looking yesterday and the conclusion is that most of the old ponds in the UK probably relied on rain to fill them. There are some modern inventions but they are not very efficient at collecting dew. But I'm going to do some more looking today.

[All Talk]

Bearman, what part of missouri --Ozarks or northern, east or west?

[Bearman202]

All Talk, I'm about as in the middle as you can get. I do remember seeing the trees with the funny branches when I lived in the foothills of the Ozarks too, though. I think in the plains region, you just look for trees and you find water.