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[Thedogjob]

Hello everybody I am a relatively new DF player and have run into some problems with my food and water supplies. I keep on getting repeated messages of, "Dwarf 'X' cancels Give Water: No water source." and "Dwarf 'Y' cancels Give Food: No food available. Just now my dwarves have stopped doing stuff and are started hunting vermin for food. What is frustrating me is the fact that i have a fairly large (assumingly freshwater) brook (that I have tried assigning the water zone to but it wouldn't appear to be working) in my fortress that would supply water, and I have lots of buckets. I also have lots of plump helmets and eggs in my stockpiles for food.

Is there a reason that they would stop drinking and eating from my supplies? Maybe the dwarves have been drinking booze the entire time since my fortress started and finally ran out and now have to drink water. Maybe the dwarves decided they were so sick of eating the same old stuff that they decided it would be better to hunt for food then eat eggs or plump helmets again. I don't know, so anyone's help or input would immensely helpful.
Thank you so much

[Laurin]

Sounds like the dwarf can't get to your stockpiles and to the water source. Are they on a different level? Maybe you have made some stairs or ramps unusable. It's quite easy to do that by removing the adjacent wall of a ramp for example.

[sal880612m]

Water zones require land tiles near a water source.

Is there anything that could be blocking your dwarfs path to your food/water?
Dwarfs will continue to eat the same old stuff, but may generate a bad thought from doing so, so it isn't likely they aren't eating because of that.
Eggs are not edible raw as far as I know they require being cooked into biscuits, stews, or roasts.

[greycat]

One strong possibility is that you have accidentally destroyed the path from the dwarves' current location to the surface (or at least to the brook), and to the food stockpile(s).  It's especially easy to accidentally strand dwarves if you are using ramps/channels without fully understanding how ramps work.

[m-logik]

Are you certain you have plump helmets and not plump helmet spawn? The spawn are the seeds, and not edible unless cooked (which you probably shouldn't do). Eggs are also not edible unless cooked (which you definitely should do).
As for your water, they may be going to stagnant pools that are drying up. I saw this on several of my early forts, where dwarves would path to the pool while it still had water and then cancel the job when the water evaporated or was used up by another dwarf. I'm not sure if water zones have a "capacity" or not, but if they do, it's probably "filling up", which is prompting the dwarves to go to the nearest pool. If you have any pools on your map with less than 7/7 water, then I would say that this is almost certainly the case.

Edit: Another thing occurs to me. The give food cancellation message could be the result of haulers carrying the barrels that contain your plump helmets, making it unavailable for other tasks. You may want to try setting up a separate food stockpile that doesn't accept barrels that takes from your main food stockpile.

[greycat]

I'm not sure if water zones have a "capacity" or not, but if they do, it's probably "filling up", which is prompting the dwarves to go to the nearest pool. If you have any pools on your map with less than 7/7 water, then I would say that this is almost certainly the case.

Water in pools is finite, unless it is currently raining.  Each tile holds 7 drinks at embark, and can be completely drained by enough drinking.  If the pool's level drops below 2/7 (aggregate), water will start evaporating.

Rain refills the murky pools, if it lasts long enough.

[m-logik]

I'm not sure if water zones have a "capacity" or not, but if they do, it's probably "filling up", which is prompting the dwarves to go to the nearest pool. If you have any pools on your map with less than 7/7 water, then I would say that this is almost certainly the case.

Water in pools is finite, unless it is currently raining.  Each tile holds 7 drinks at embark, and can be completely drained by enough drinking.  If the pool's level drops below 2/7 (aggregate), water will start evaporating.

Rain refills the murky pools, if it lasts long enough.

Yeah, I meant the water zone he designated on the brook. I was speculating on whether the number of standable tiles would affect how many dwarves would use the zone at once. If they can't use the designated zone, then they would likely go to the nearest source. I'm uncertain of the mechanics of water zones, so it really was just speculation. I have seen cancellation spam due to pools drying up, though, so it's a good candidate for that portion of the OP's problem.

[Sutremaine]

Water in pools is finite, unless it is currently raining.  Each tile holds 7 drinks at embark, and can be completely drained by enough drinking.

Is that a new thing for .40? It used to be that only wells would lower the water level.

[sal880612m]

It worked that way in 0.34.11 as well.

[Sutremaine]

I never saw a dwarf lower the level of a water source by drinking from it directly.

[WJLIII3]

I never saw a dwarf lower the level of a water source by drinking from it directly.

It takes multiple drinks, either directly or from a well, to reduce a water level, but it certainly happens. I think its every five? The wiki says it.

[sirdave79]

And of course drinking from a brook wont reduce its level because new water is constantly flowing in.