Going against the flow

Did you know that flowing water is one of the most powerful forces on the planet? It shapes and reshapes landscapes, carves canyons and valleys. It can build fertile floodplains that support life or cause destructive flooding. So, guess what this letter is about?

Yes, you guessed it—water! Specifically, the small river that borders the northern side of our land. It has continued to encroach on and undermine our boundary wall. After a flash flood in October 2022, we could delay no longer. So, we traded our building tools for digging tools and got to work.

Ever heard of gabions? Maybe you haven’t, but you’ve most likely passed them without knowing. Gabions are civil engineering tools made of wire and filled with rocks. They have various uses, including erosion and flooding mitigation. After finding a supplier, negotiating a price, and organizing transport, we had gabions on site with over 400m³ of open space. Now, it was time to install them and fill that space with rock.

The northern boundary is approximately 200m long, but we didn’t want the gabions to be undermined like our boundary wall. So, we decided to install the first row below the riverbed with a second row on top to protect the property boundary. This meant moving more than 200m³ of river sand and rock with pick and shovel to install the subterranean row—no small feat. Once installed, 200m³ of rock needed to go into the empty cages. Over 400m³ of rock had to be sourced from the surrounding communities, purchased, and transported—yes, the riverbeds are owned by various communities. We have finally reached the riverbed surface level and we had enough rock for the project, but some watery interruptions (more rain) gave us another task.

After a good cleanup, we were back at it. Before installing the second tier of gabions, we had to turn our attention to the boundary wall. The recent watery interruption had moved our wall to the breaking point. So we jacked, dug, and concreted to get the wall back in place and keep it there. Then came tier two. Tier two was a little easier, relatively speaking—no digging but plenty of lifting. Once completed, we installed some buttress supports between the gabions and the repaired section of the wall for added stability. Boundary secured. Job done!