This might not look like a lot more than a mud-pool to you, but if you are living on a farm in South Africa where you are not supplied with town water, then this small dam means survival as well as sustainability.
A short while back I did a post on scraping and deepening this dam before the rains, and I was so grateful to see that the new (old) dam is finally retaining its first water after the rains started.
The tall grass that seems to be flourishing inside the dam will soon rot away and serve its purpose to create a natural ecosystem within the dam, and we can already see natural water lilies growing; these were probably seeded by water birds paying a visit to the filling dam.
We also managed to complete the dams overflow or outlet in the mean time. This allows the water from this dam to continue its natural course once it is full, flowing over into a small stream linking to a secondary dam, this not only help protects the dam walls, but also allows the water the redeem the course that nature intended, whilst the water-flow simultaneously prohibits stagnant water.
The dogs went up with us when we went to go check the progress, and one thing I know is that they had an absolute ball frolicking in the water as an escape of the warm African heat. And I almost joined them, but in the end decided against it (maybe when the dam is slightly fuller)
So me and my daughter decided to give the muddy pool a skip and bask in the sun on the back of the pickup truck in stead.