SINKING PONDS

Because water is so precious in the Karst, the ever inventive Kraševci did everything they could to hold onto water for as long as possible. In order to do that, they used the natural properties of the karst terrain to their best advantage. They covered the bottoms of sinkholes with impermeable clay, so that rainwater would collect in them. These sinking ponds are called kal in Slovene. In their basic form, they are a kind of larger watering holes. In the 19th century, however, some of these ponds were built with stone.

As a rule, the Kraševci built sinking ponds outside the villages, because they were primarily watering holes for animal use. One could say that building a sinking pond is a special sort of art. Firstly, the upper layers of soil would be scraped off, all the way to the rocky bottom of the sinkhole. Secondly, the bottom was flattened by using gravel or ordinary soil. And finally, the bottom was covered with clay, which was then compressed to create an impermeable layer. On this foundation they put straight stone rocks and filled in the cracks with clay to prevent water from mixing with the soil and becoming muddy.

Sinking ponds were of different depth - from 50 to 280 cm. They were between 3 to 70 metres wide. The Kraševci built sinking ponds spontaneously, but during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy rule, their construction was encouraged by the authorities who wanted to revive farming at the Karst.