By Emily M.
Question: How does a family live in the desert with no water on their property? Answer: Good old fashioned prairie ingenuity and $4.25.
Ed and Anita's 40 acre property in Wellington, Colorado is designated "dry". This means there is no piped-in city water or well water of any kind on the ranch. The Rennells are responsible for getting water to the ranch's 5000 gallon underground cistern to feed the water supply to the house.
So how do they do this? As it turns out, their situation is not uncommon in the high desert country of the Plains. The solution is simple: folks who live on "dry" land truck in water. In the Rennells' case, the city of Wellington has a water pump that works a lot like the air supply for tires works at a gas station. You put your quarters in the slot and get water out of the pipe that hangs about 15 - 20 feet in the air. Each resident who wants to fill a cistern has to bring a few things with them to the town water pump:
I caught the process of filling the cistern on camera via time lapse. In real time, it took about 8 minutes to fill the 650 gallon cistern.
So how do they do this? As it turns out, their situation is not uncommon in the high desert country of the Plains. The solution is simple: folks who live on "dry" land truck in water. In the Rennells' case, the city of Wellington has a water pump that works a lot like the air supply for tires works at a gas station. You put your quarters in the slot and get water out of the pipe that hangs about 15 - 20 feet in the air. Each resident who wants to fill a cistern has to bring a few things with them to the town water pump:
- Cistern - the Rennells' and other portable cisterns are plastic. Theirs' holds 650 gallons of water.
- PVC pipe - this serves as the connection between the town's elevated water pipe and the cistern.
- Truck and trailer - to transport the cistern. The Rennells' are on their second trailer, since the weight of the water kept deflating the first trailer's tires. This one's working great!
- Money - to fill their 650 gallon cistern, the Rennells pay $4.25 in quarters
I caught the process of filling the cistern on camera via time lapse. In real time, it took about 8 minutes to fill the 650 gallon cistern.
When the Rennells return home from the 20 minute drive to get water, they park close to their underground cisterns and elevate the front of the trailer so that they can get a gravity assist on draining the portable cistern.
One load of water in the 650 gallon cistern will last the ranch about three days. That's a lot of work for water, but it has to be done. To conserve water, the ranch uses a separate bottled water source for drinking (it just tastes better) and they use rain-water capture where possible for gardening.
Those of us who got to accompany Ed and Anita on this chore enjoyed learning about this aspect of their lives here in Colorado. On the way to and from the town water supply we talked about their ministry, their property, the farming lifestyle that surrounds their property, and their plans to eventually have horses on the ranch. We also got to see antelope and enjoy the rugged landscape that Soaring Wings calls home. The Rennells are living in the desert - and thriving.
Those of us who got to accompany Ed and Anita on this chore enjoyed learning about this aspect of their lives here in Colorado. On the way to and from the town water supply we talked about their ministry, their property, the farming lifestyle that surrounds their property, and their plans to eventually have horses on the ranch. We also got to see antelope and enjoy the rugged landscape that Soaring Wings calls home. The Rennells are living in the desert - and thriving.