By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot

Laundry was going and the dishwasher was running before seven in the morning to take advantage of lower electricity rates. Face washed. Coffee made.
It was already hot as I stuck sweaty feet into black boots to do the morning chores. Hot and dry.
The grass was starting to crunch underfoot as I got out the garden hose to rinse and refill the duck’s swimming trough. Yesterday’s fresh water was brown and filthy, but made good fertilizer water for the planters on the deck. When I took the hose out, the ducks were already cleaning their feathers and having a grand old time.
The hose went to the PVC pipe contraption that carries water from the hose to the horse trough. Handy, handy! 
Next task was to fill pails in the barn from the frost-free hydrant installed a few years back. Like everything else, it’s all manual labour at Big Rock Farms but this is a hobby farm now. No more dairy cows in an automated barn. Everything here is done with pails, troughs and horses. I like it though. I want to use my muscles for my own physical health, working with animals calms my spirit (until the ducks ate all my cauliflower!)  and I like being in a barn. It’s restful yet inspiring – a place to contemplate while my hands are busy.
On this day, though, the rushing water from the hydrant slowed to a trickle and then … stopped. I checked the garden hose, also no water. No water out of the house taps either. Had it been too long since I changed the filter. Dang! I rushed to the basement and changed the filter but still, no water.
Dale Pump and Farm Service are the best so I got on the phone and told them my situation. It couldn’t be the filter, they assured me. The manager said the guys were working on a broken pump in a pig barn and I would be next. He figured either the well pump was broken or the switch that runs it.
In the meantime, it was blazing hot, all my water barrels were dry and there I was with no water from any tap, hose or pump. It’s a scary feeling. It’s one thing to have no hydro and realize the crews will get it sorted in a few hours time. It’s another to let the mind fly and wonder if the aquifers have dried up, if this is the beginning of the apocalypse and will I now have to pail water from the river? Too far, I know. But it’s unsettling not having water. None of my animals, my children or myself will survive on this farm without it.
Not having access to fresh water is terrifying. It’s something millions around the world face but here in the heaven that is Huron County, it’s not something I have to worry about.
The guys from Dale Pump arrived in a few hours and they were calm as could be. Turns out it was the pump switch and they installed a new one and fixed my water softener at the same time. Handy, these guys. Soon all the people and animals in my care had fresh water and the worries of the morning faded, even as prayers continued for rain as the grass got crunchier and crunchier from lack of rain.
Sometimes I take the abundance of clean, fresh water for granted. Other times not. As farmers, we are always conscious of the weather and watch the forecast for rain. July is drought month where I live near the lake and I check the radar daily (sometimes several times a day) to see when rain might be coming. We live in one of those spots where it looks like rain will come then we watch as it falls around us. I’d already watered a new tree plantation twice and needed rain to keep pastures growing. All my farming neighbours needed rain for their crops. Gardeners need it to grow food for their families, everyone needs respite from the heat and as nature-lovers know every plant, animal and insect needs water in their particular ecosystems.
So when Hurricane Beryl brought much-needed rain to my neck of the woods on July 10, I was thankful. So thankful. I know too much water can be more devastating than drought but here, at least right now, it’s good. 
Those of us who are of the land have an intimate relationship with water and that’s evident by the success of the Huron Clean Water Project which just celebrated its 20th anniversary. Farmers and landowners have completed over 4,000 projects with the funds and knowledge offered by the program in an effort to keep the land out of the water, and keep our water clean. It’s an amazing success story.
We can’t control the rain but we can certainly take action on our farms and fields to ensure the rivers run clean before they enter our Great Lakes. Check out the Clean Water Projects in your area and take advantage of the money and support it offers to make sure clean water keeps flowing at your place. ◊