A New Life In The Beast World-Chapter 86: The Problem Of Flooding And Drought

When they got to the river, Serena asked, "Do the river flood often?"

She wanted to have the city close to the river so there was a constant supply of water, one of the most important things they needed, but river flooding would cause a problem.

Especially when they had heavy rains. Because at best it could do some serious damage or at worst could completely destroy the city. Something she did not want happening.

If it did tend to flood then she was going to need to build some kind of barrier on the river bank as well as create more canals to divert the waters. Perhaps a dam too?

That would allow them to keep more water for the drier season, but her worry was how it would affect others within the area. They were likely not the only ones that relied on this river for water.

And she didn’t want to accidentally cut off the supply of some other place’s water. She’d need to recheck the map and see if she could get any hint of where this river came from and where it went.

If it went through some other village or tribe, then the damn idea was a bust. She’d find another way for them to keep a steady supply of water for drier weather.

Perhaps they could collect the rain. But they’d need some kind of storage system so that the water wouldn’t evaporate quickly and stay clean. She was going to need to do more research on this clearly.

For now, she needed to make note of the river’s patterns to take methods against any possible flooding or reduction in water during the hot season. She knew river beds drying up could be a problem.

Especially when she was planning on increasing the size of the village into a city. That would mean massive population growth and she needed to take resources into account when planning this place’s development.

"It used to flood quite badly during the rainy season, but now it mostly just swells up now thanks to the canals we built some time back." Elder Samuel answered, turning to her. "That being said, everyone’s warned to keep away from the river during the rainy season and only use the canals... We’ve lost quite a few beastmen and cubs to the river’s raging currents."

Serena glanced at the river, the water flowing so gently it almost looked still. If not for the trickling sound it was making, Serena would’ve thought that the water wasn’t moving. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

She couldn’t believe such a gentle thing could grow into a raging river and cause so much death. But she didn’t doubt Elder Samuel’s words. She could see the pain in his eyes.

It almost made her ask if he had lost someone close to this river. But she kept silent. Death was not something one spoke about lightly.

"I see..." Serena instead murmured. "And what about drying up? Has that ever happened?"

Elder Samuel shook his head. "We rarely get drought here thankfully. The water levels might go down a bit, but the river has never completely dried up before."

Serena nodded her head in understanding. It was good to know that drought wouldn’t be too much of an issue. Still, she wanted to make sure she had some kind of backup water supply in case it did happen on an off chance.

The village was going to rely on farming food to sell to survive and if they didn’t have something basic like water for the plants, then there went everything.

Her eyes continued to wander across the river when they fell onto a section of reddish, brown soil along the river bank. It was quite different from the greenery surrounding the river.

Parts were cracked while others, closer to the water, were wet. There were deep and shallow sections, almost as if it had been dug out. It took her a moment to realize it looked quite familiar.

"That part over there..." Serena pointed it out. "Is that where you get the mud for the huts?"

"Hmmm..." Elder Samuel gazed over to where she was pointing. ’Oh yes... We mix some of that clay in with the mud we gather from canals. It hardens quite nicely, but we don’t dig there too often because we worry about destroying the river bank. It’s our only protection against flooding."

Serena perked up at his words. That was clay?

I recall the city planning book having something about using clay to make bricks. Serena mused to herself. I can’t remember everything now...

But bricks would be much stronger than wood. Alternatively, she planned to use stone, but she’d need to find some kind of quarry and a method of easy transportation.

At least with this discovery, she had found one of the main raw materials for bricks. They could perhaps make their own instead and use it to build. The only thing was, they needed to make sure they didn’t cause issues with the river.

Still, this whole tour was turning into something fruitful. There were a bunch of things she needed to look more into, but her plans were beginning to take shape.

Now all I need is that bird to complete that mission. Serena mused to herself. Then I can start properly ironing out all the kinks in my plan.

After checking out a few more things around the river, the two made their way back to the village. Along the way, Serena took note of materials they had in the area and chatted to Elder Samuel about how they got the canals made.

Turned out they just used a similar technique to their burrowing, but they did it above ground. They also lined the sides with large rocks and stones to help keep the canal from collapsing.

When they parted ways, Serena’s head was filled with all sorts of things that she wanted to get to her subspace right away to go over them carefully. However, there were other things that needed her attention.

Like whatever Kiro and Theo were doing right now.