Dammin' It Up

Hengill has been kind to us in the last few weeks, and we've experienced some uncharacteristically pleasant weather in the field.

Not a bad walk to work if you ask me

However, the lack of rain meant the reservoir for the channel experiment was running low- not a good situation when the success of your experiment relies on a constant supply of water. So Delor and I set out to improve the reservoir dam using the two most useful supplies we could think of- sandbags and rocks.

There are plenty of rocks available at the site, but what do you do when you realize it's pretty difficult to carry a bunch of 50 pound sandbags almost a mile across a field to the dam? ...

You make your own of course!

It turns out making sandbags is super easy, and much less expensive than buying them at the Húsasmiðjan (Icelandic hardware store).

Step One: Fill plastic bags with sand from the site

Step Two: Cut up some burlap and tie it around the bag

Step Three: Voilà! Sandbags!

Versatile, customizable... perfect for all your damming needs.

Using our newfound handiwork Delor and I were able to patch up the dam and get the water levels back up in the supply barrels.

It's basically on par with the Hoover Dam now.

Now we can rest easy and enjoy all these sunny, clear days… we’ll see how much longer they last!