<mix...@bigpond.com> wrote:
> BTW it might be simpler to just install a pipe with it's mouth farther up > hill > than the wall (but buried well below the surface), and the lower end in the > ocean. It would provide a low resistance drain for the ground water, and > obviate > the need for pumping. > Some people I know in Japan in the countryside get their running water by that method. You don't even need a deep well or pump, because there is so much groundwater and the hills are so steep. You find a spring a good distance uphill in the woods behind the house and put in PV pipes. The water pouring out of the those stone walls in those photos I linked to is pure, cold and delicious. I used to go jogging 4 miles or so along that road. I would let the water pour over me when I got hot, and drink it. I would not drink the run-off from an orange grove or field, but contamination is not a problem when the water comes out of the woods. There are thousands of acres of wild woods on hills too steep to farm above most small Japanese towns. Nobody sprays pesticide up there. The nation is said to be overpopulated but it does not feel that way in the countryside. In the woods shown in those photos people sometimes wander off and are never seen again, especially elderly people. You can walk up there for hours and not see another person. In the case of Fukushima plant, however, there is not much of a grade behind the ice wall, so they will need wells and pumps. I do not think the energy cost from the pumping will be high. Keeping the wall frozen is what will take a lot of energy. - Jed
