Father's cellar

Dongyuan is a typical loess plateau, dry plateau, dry ditch and bare limestone mountain. In this barren and arid loess high slope, there is no well, and agriculture basically depends on the sky for food.

In the past, people in tableland mainly ate cellar water, and every family had cellars of different sizes. Carefully clean the yard inside and outside before it rains, and connect pots and pans under the eaves. After the rain comes, collect the rain into the cellar and let it settle naturally for a while. After the water is clear, you can drink it. When drawing water, tie a bucket to the end of the rope, shake the pulley on the cellar shelf, slowly put it down, fill it with water and lift it up again.

My family has two cellars, a water cellar and a vegetable cellar, which contain sweet potatoes and radishes, which I play after school. The water cellar is about 10 meter deep, with a thin neck and a roughly altar-shaped body. Nail the cellar after its initial completion. On the cellar wall of the cellar aquifer, the pile mouth is taken out in the shape of "pin", and at the same time, five or six grids of good red soil are selected for soaking. After everything is ready, please ask friends and relatives to help, first repeatedly splash water on the pile mouth and the pit wall with pile mouth to make it fully absorb water; Then the soaked red soil is fully stirred into "red soil", rubbed into strips, stuffed into the pile mouth, and hammered with a mallet and an empty wine bottle. Finally, the rainwater collection field will be leveled and compacted, and the clarifier, water inlet and cellar platform will be built with bricks, and the manhole cover will be added to set up the hoist. The water cellar can finally be used.

It is difficult to dig the cellar, but there is not much water stored in it. This is because there is little rain, the area of rainwater collection field is limited, and the seepage control effect of soil cellar is not good. Usually, the water collected in the cellar can only ensure the whole family to drink water next year. When the weather is dry for a long time in winter and spring, you can only go out and try to find water. Earlier, people in Yuanshang took animals to the Ishikawa River to carry water in wooden barrels, and it took five or six miles to get there. Later, Yaoxian Cement Plant started mining in Baojian Mountain. The iron drum on the aerial ropeway for transporting stones for mines transports water from the factory by the Ishikawa River and then puts it in the reservoir for villagers to use. If there is a water tank or an empty oil drum at home, pull a cart and go there once; If not, just pick up the bucket and carry it.

During the agricultural Dazhai period, Dongyuan people were determined to change their backward appearance, dared to fight against heaven and earth, struggled to control mountains and water, and built layers of terraces on gully beams; The rainwater collection pits on the roadside and in the fields are filled. If it doesn't rain for a long time, members will be organized to carry water to fight drought and protect seedlings. In Dagou and Goujian in the east, the commune organized forces to block ditches and build dams to store water, and the large-diameter water diversion pipeline led to Dongling. The health brigade and the production team bought water pumps and steel pipes and vowed to lead the water to the plateau ... But with the dissolution of the people's commune, this grand water conservancy project was dismounted halfway, and the water pumps and steel pipes were sold. The plateau in the east was still dry, and there was not an acre of irrigated land.

"Don't waste every drop of water" is not just a slogan here, but a way of life for everyone. Cooking and washing all need water, and so do pigs, cattle and sheep raised at home. A handful of water is not enough for one day. In order to save water, a basin of water let the whole family take turns to wash their faces, and finally the water has turned dark gray. Even so, the water can't be poured out, and it will eventually be poured into the vegetable garden. When the clothes are dirty, pat them with your hands and continue to wear them in the sun. If they are really dirty, you can only work hard, carry a big basket of clothes, carry them to the Ishikawa River to wash clothes, or wait for the rain.

After the production quotas were fixed, the rural economy became active and farmers became rich. People moved out of the earth kiln where they lived for generations and built beautiful new houses in the new countryside. The unified planning of the new countryside is clean and tidy, and the villagers live in a relatively concentrated place, but the homestead is small and farmers can't keep animals. The newly-built houses are mainly flat-roofed, and the small yards are hardened with cement. The farmers' goal is to dry grain and collect rainwater conveniently. The water cellar of each family has also been changed into a reservoir of foreign flavor. The inner wall of the pool is covered with cement, and the top is covered with a concrete cover, plus a beautiful manhole cover, and a small pump is supported. Compared with the previous water cellar, the newly-built reservoir has a large rainwater collection area, and the collected rainwater is clean and sufficient, and it is not easy to leak and collapse. Compared with the cellar, the reservoir is shallow and spacious, and it is easy to clean up even if something goes wrong.

In order to support local development and solve the problem of people's draught, a reservoir was built in the mine and a water diversion pipeline was laid for the village. On the day of boiling water, everyone beat gongs and drums and was extremely excited! Pick up a ladle of glistening tap water on the faucet, "drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum-drum. Mine tap water is supplied regularly every day. Every time the tap water is released, everyone stares at their own faucet nervously. When the water comes, first fill the water tanks, buckets, pots and pans in the kitchen. Finally, there was no place to hold water, so they connected a water pipe to the faucet, unscrewed the faucet and led the water into their own reservoir. The lack of water really scares Yuan Shangren.

Later, we connected the pipeline of Dongyuan drinking water project, realized the supply of tap water all day, and never ate cellar water again. The water cellar of my father's generation has long been abandoned. It is a foreign-style reservoir, which is only used to wash clothes and water flowers. A few years ago, the mine let the drilling team drill their own wells in the village. After drilling nearly 1000 meters, it finally came out of the water, which caused a sensation in the whole dongyuan. Villages in Yuan Shang are eager to try and plan their own drilling plans. Unexpectedly, the water quality of the self-prepared well was poor, and the water inflow was insufficient. Eventually, the mine had to be abandoned, and the hopes that people had just ignited were suddenly dashed.

Due to topographic and geological reasons, it may be impossible to pump water in the east, and dry land cannot be converted into irrigated land. However, relying on abundant high-quality limestone resources, Dongyuan has become one of the energy industry centers in the whole region, and the supporting Taoqupo Reservoir water diversion project is about to start. The drinking water of people and animals in Dongyuan has been given more protection, and people in Dongyuan may bid farewell to their parents' water cellar forever.