I just embarked on a map with 2 naturally spawned ponds, each 1×1.
There is no other source of water. (With use of dfhack with a cheat I found that there was no water.) So I decided to create an artificial pond in the meeting area and fill it. It's done – I used a pump to clear the water. But, will this one tile of water [5/7] suffice my fortress needs ?
The pond a got dried out in an attempt to increase its size for rain water harvesting.
Best Answer
Probably, depending on how much rainfall you get.
Dwarves don't need to drink water and can survive solely on alcohol. They will usually only drink water in emergencies, i.e. running out of booze or if they are badly injured.
Using a well (dwarves prefer this to drinking directly from a pool or pond) uses 1 level of water per 10 uses, so that 5/7 pool will provide 50 buckets of water. This should be more than enough unless a lot of dwarves get badly injured or you run out of alcohol.
Remember to refill the indoor pool whenever you can. The outdoor pools will refill naturally when it rains.