Dew Ponds - how to survive the drought if you are a farmer - part one

Dew Ponds

In this time of decreased rainfall, despite it raining for a few days in the south east the hose pipe ban is still in effect. Is it a time to rely on these structures? The dew ponds, also known as cloud or mist ponds, were first recorded in  around 1865 and are of a shallow and saucer-shaped form lined with normally readily available material, (be it chalk, marl or puddled clay) over a layer of straw that insulates the pond from the subsoil heat of the surrounding landscape. There have been examples where either soot or lime has been mixed to deter the burrowing effects of earthworms. Other methods of attempting to reduce the rates of evaporation included siting the pond in a hollow or leaving the grass to grow taller (if you could stop the animals eating it) as the taller grasses were thought to help refract the heat effect or maybe it was just the micro movement of the grasses that helped to reduce the  heat around the pool. Other precautions may be taken into account to deter the drinking animals from entering the pond, this would include adding irregular shaped rocks or flints within the bottom of the pond.