Land Drainage
When low lying areas of land are drained, the general method is to dig drainage ditches. However, if the area is below sea level then it is necessary to pump the water upwards into water channels that finally drain into the sea.
The Victorians understood this concept, and in the United Kingdom they built pumping stations with water pumps, powered by steam engines to accomplish this task. In Lincolnshire, large areas of wetland at sea level, called The Fens, were turned into rich arable farmland by this method. The land is full of nutrients because of the accumulation of sedimentary mud that created the land initially.
Elsewhere, pumping stations are used to remove water that has found its way into low-lying areas as a result of leakage or flooding (in New Orleans, for example).
Read more about this topic: Pumping Station
Famous quotes containing the word land:
“The prairies were dust. Day after day, summer after summer, the scorching winds blew the dust and the sun was brassy in a yellow sky. Crop after crop failed. Again and again the barren land must be mortgaged for taxes and food and next year’s seed. The agony of hope ended when there was not harvest and no more credit, no money to pay interest and taxes; the banker took the land. Then the bank failed.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)