Irrigation ponds

Not as clear as I hoped the photo would be but this is the Rakaia River, in Canterbury, NZ.

The huge "arrowhead" ponds at the top right capture water at peak flow when the river is in flood.

It is then distributed to the smaller ponds on farmers properties - for pumping on to the land by giant centre pivot irrigators ( some more than 1 km long!).

This water would just have been "wasted" out to sea had it not been captured. This is environmentally friendly irrigation.