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With a Shovel, Wheelbarrow, and a Lot of Determination, Farmer from Alfredo Wagner Built a Nearly 60-Meter Lagoon by Himself, Started at 71, and Only Stopped When He Silenced the Doubters
A 71-year-old farmer could be thinking about resting after a lifetime dedicated to farming. But that wasn’t the case for Mr. Atílio, a resident of Alfredo Wagner, Santa Catarina, who built alone a giant lagoon after hearing that he would not be able to complete the project. The idea came up to solve a simple daily problem: a marshy area where cattle kept getting stuck. However, the response he received when he asked for machinery assistance from the city hall changed the course of history.
That’s when the provocation arose. They said he had no way to do it, that the fill wouldn’t hold, and that everything would wash away in the first flood. The more they doubted him, the more convinced he became otherwise. With a shovel, a wheelbarrow, and a routine of back-and-forth trips of 4 kilometers between his home and the property, he decided he would show, in practice, that building alone was not just a catchphrase, but a personal commitment to his own limits.
How the Lagoon He Built Alone Was Born
The story of the lagoon started on a waterlogged piece of land, where the cattle got stuck and the area was of little use for production. Unable to get a machinery loan from the city hall, Mr. Atílio mentioned to friends that he would undertake the work on his own, digging and raising the fill with whatever he had on hand.
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The reaction was immediate: they said he didn’t have the means to do it, that the barrier wouldn’t hold, and that everything would give way to the water. Instead of getting discouraged, he took this as fuel.
From that moment on, he built each stage of the lagoon alone, determined to prove that confidence in one’s own work speaks louder than the opinions of those who only watch from afar.
Thirteen Years of Shovel, Wheelbarrow, and Persistence
Whenever he could, he walked the 4 km to the lagoon site and spent the day working. It was mud this way, wheelbarrow that way, week after week, Sunday after Sunday.
According to him, if he didn’t have another job to attend to, he was always there, working on the fill, leveling, correcting each part of the land.
At one point in the process, he did hire a machine, but just to loosen the mud in some areas and facilitate the heavy work.
Everything else, from transportation to finishing the fill, he built alone, pushing the wheelbarrow, using the hoe, and compacting the material with the very movement of his daily work.
A Giant Lagoon Made by Hand
Anyone imagining a small lagoon is mistaken. The body of water is nearly 60 meters long from front to back and reaches about 5 meters in depth at its deepest points.
The fill matches this height, at approximately 44 meters in length, wider at the base, at about 10 meters, and narrower at the top.
The secret of the structure lies in the clayey mud used in the construction. According to Mr. Atílio, this mud compacts with weight and the constant traffic of the wheelbarrow. Once well packed, it does not allow water to leak easily.
With each layer placed and adjusted with the hoe, he reinforced the barrier that now supports the lagoon he built alone, without giving way even with the volume of water accumulated over the years.
Details That Show Planning and Experience
The project doesn’t just focus on the hole dug and the barrier raised. Mr. Atílio also thought about how the water would behave. The main outlet was created with two tubes, where excess flows out on days of heavier rain. Above, an even firmer section serves as an overflow point when the lagoon fills up too much, preventing the structure from being at risk.
Another curious detail is the hose that he values so much. Instead of a conventional pipe, he uses a hose for managing the fish, allowing him to treat the water and care for the animals with more control. In the lagoon, carp, grass carp, catfish, and hundreds of fry swim.
It’s a combination of rural simplicity with solutions that emerged from observation and practice, reinforcing that he built alone much more than a reservoir: he created a living system.
Future Plans, Even with Advanced Age
Today, at over 80 years old and facing back problems, he continues to receive medical care, but he still refuses to give in to the idea of completely stopping.
The next step is to plant more fruit saplings on the edge of the lagoon, so that the roots help hold the soil, and raise the edges even more, increasing the water level with the support of a dredge.
He himself admits that, at this stage, the heavier part can no longer be done by hand. Still, the plan remains the same: as long as he can, he wants to keep moving forward, working and improving the project he started when many already considered him too old for such a challenge.
A Silent Response to Those Who Doubted
When the lagoon was finished, seeing the result up close changed even the perspective of those who previously didn’t believe. One of the doubters even became emotional upon seeing the extent of what he built alone, embracing the farmer and admitting he was wrong to underestimate his capability.
For Mr. Atílio, the lagoon is more than just stored water. It is a material proof that age is not a death sentence and that the determination to get up every day, grab the shovel, and push the wheelbarrow can transform a useless marsh into a robust, useful project admired by those who visit the place.
Do you think you would have the patience and determination to spend 13 years on a project that everyone said wouldn’t work?
Parabéns ao seu Atílio!! Um verdadeiro guerreiro que não baixou a cabeça aos comentários negativos. Nunca desacredite da determinação de quem se dispõe a por a mão na massa e fazer!!! Bravo!!!
Parabéns, ficou maravilhoso. Parece obra feita por engenheiro. Mto inteligente.
Parabéns pelo feito.
Leve em conta que o Ibama a hora que souber irá exigir uma App ao redor da represa e não poderá mais ser utilizado as áreas ao redor para outros fins…se informe, porque pode virar a perda de uma bela área produtiva se for o caso….