The Quest for Irrigation

I've been digging around for information on existing waterlines underneath Aldrich Park, knowing that come July, with baby plants in the ground, sometimes Michigan can get a little dry and irrigation is critical. I called Miss Dig, a Michigan-based company that promotes "utility damage prevention" by marking out existing gas and electric lines if you plan on excavating or building something big. They directed me to the city, so I called the Department of Public Works and Utilities, who transferred me to the Department of Transportation. I spoke with a super helpful engineer named Craig who asked me to come in to look over some maps with him to find the closest address or parcel with waterlines.

There are some basic assumptions we are going by, the first being that there are existing waterlines that we can tap into. If there are not, there is the possibility of irrigating out of the creek, and/or of putting in cisterns and rain barrels to catch and store rain. While we do plan on having gullies on the hoophouses to catch and direct water to a kind of water catchment system, and also using smaller cisterns, I do not want to rely on these to irrigate over an acre of crops, some of which are very sensitive when young.

Once we find out if there are existing lines, I can measure how many linear feet from the mainline to the park, a pipe would have to be run and a couple of faucets installed. This may get pricey, but it may be the only way to do it.

Thanks Roxanne for all your help with this! And Craig from the DOT!