Hydrologian perusteet |Elementary Hydrology] (2014) Leppäranta, Huttula, Virta. A solid introduction to the topic. Too much maths but great for checking statistics.
Visited the most magnificent artisanal well in Finland… Possibly of North Europe! The well was made accidentally in 1987 as a part of a ground water survey. Engineer drilled a 20 m deep hole (ø ~5cm) to a river bank next to a farm. The drill bit broke into a reservoir which produced a three meter high water jet. The water sprays from a bit shaft which is locked firmly to the ground, possibly reaching bedrock. The farmer who owns the land has tried moving the shaft and confirms it does not budge. The jet has been spraying for over thirty years and is currently 2 m high. He estimated that the fluctuation of the stream height is seasonal. I would estimate that it produces three litres of fresh, very cold and neutral tasting water per second. The taste felt grounded (alkaline?). The current farmer has lived on the property for 13 years and detailed that nowadays only a few visitors visit the well. In the nineties “truckloads of tourists” visited the site and the previous owner was not exited about the attraction. A few years back the farmer attempted to make the well accessible by building a visitor trail (it would follow the river stream) but they couldn’t figure out who owned the land across the river and plans were put on hold. Currently the well produces drinking water for forest boars which the farmer keeps. He’s hoping to place a tub for bathing on the site. Currently the jet lands an a concrete well ring which is sinking slowly into the muddy riverbank.
The landscape, the views and the nature surrounding the industrial-natural-spring-well felt compelling. I felt an urge to act and to develop something for the site. I’m fortunate to have grown up surrounded with landscape paintings. The paintings are old (by Finnish standards) and they continue to afford me a view to the past. As paintings, the views live and look different depending on light the season offers. I particularly remember a picture of a red house. When visiting Kokkola in the early 90ties I saw the same building, now abandoned and climbed in trough its window. It felt like I knew the people who had stood at the site (and the horse whose name I remember). Because the landscape paintings are old I can imagine views they depict having a past and a future. I think this compels me to act when I counter a natural phenomenons of interest, like the artisanal well. I’m compelled to interact because I can imagine someone seeing it in the future. I don’t think this is an effort to capitalize views, to use them as resources. It is a process of keeping them, keeping the view and even to make it more long lasting. I started dreaming of a granite observatory which would house the water jet. A bright copper bowl would be set so that it would ring as the water lands on it. A pipe in the bottom of the bowl would guide the water to the nearby stream and counteract erosion. People would be invited to listen to the water and to tap of the jet stream for a taste.