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[Plank of Wood]

I have a problem, on a different forum we're doing a succession game. The Area around used to be a savahna with a Volcano on the ground, a huge mountian, and a few murkey pools.

Now, as a hot climate, the only chance of natural water is from said murky pools, we've agreed that the chances of an underground river are very low. However, it only rains in the spring, and the water evaporates before Autumn comes.

So, my question is, is it possible to have a rainwater collection system that alows the water, no matter how limited, to not evaporate? This fortress is a literal goldmine, but a recent cock up caused by an experimental butcher and a Fire Imp corpse has left our booze supplies very low. I want to be able to have a system that allows the pools to be drained, but does not destroy the pools themselves.

[Pilsu]

It only evaporates above ground

[Plank of Wood]

Build a Bauxite Stairway?


Oh I see

Thanks, you have saved many stupid, stupid dwarves.

[Grumman]

As I understand it, the two causes of evaporation are low water level and hot weather. Could you dig a deep 1*1 hole next to the pond to collect the water (since one 7/7 square is better at not evaporating than seven 1/7 squares), with a lever-controlled hatch to close the hole and keep it cool during summer?

[Plank of Wood]

It's a hot climate, and very few of the pools reach over 3/7. Anyway, I'm going to try making a few windmills, pumps and start pumping out all the water in all the pools into an underground lake. It'll be small, but at least it'll be enough to stop a mass drought when we run out of booze from a !!stray kitten!!

[Pilsu]

That just preserves the water, you have to think of a way to access it too. Any wells would have to be underground to combat evaporation and once that cistern is full, the spring rain will flood the well room. Not really a problem if it's on the same z level as the pond, you can just let the water flood the tunnel until it's accessible. Just wastes water, that's all

This is pretty reliant on the amount of water coming down

[Plank of Wood]

Which is very little, might I add.

I'm going to make the underground lake deep down, leaving enough room for a well.

[Pilsu]

Do remember that 1 deep water will evaporate even underground. Makes it tricky to make a proper cistern, it has to be expanded as you go

[Osmosis Jones]

Nah, just make the cistern with a sloped bottom,

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[_Acorn_]

It seems like deep wells are superior to wide ones for minimizing evaporation.

Do remember that 1 deep water will evaporate even underground. Makes it tricky to make a proper cistern, it has to be expanded as you go

QFT.  I just found that out.  Luckily I didn't go overboard when mining it out, and it looks like the cistern will fill in about 3 years.  It is fed by a 1x tube from an underground river some hundreds of squares away that falls into the corner of a square room.

The years long wait is unfortunate as I've already installed water wheels farther down the tube and am eager to get them working.

[Duke 2.0]

 From what I understand: Pumps always output 7/7. Thus if you surround the murky pool with pumps that lead to a drop, you can make a 7/7 tile of water when a 1/7 appears due to rain. Then again, this is only in theory.

[Fossaman]

I'm pretty sure pumps don't output 7/7, actually. They'll suck up as much water as is available, and spit out exactly that much. So if you're draining a shallow water source, the output is slower.

[Skanky]

They used to pump out 7/7 regardless of input, but that has since been fixed.