Providing water power to Falun Mine and all the copper smelting houses in the surrounding was a constant concern. In dry years or periods of severe drought there was not enough water. The demand for water in Falun Mine increased with growing use of water pumps and water powered machines in the midst of 1600s. The spring of 1657 was so dry that the mine was forced to shut down due to the lack of water. People were not ready for that as they never faced such problem before. The troubles came back again in the year of 1670. That’s when people realized that something should be done in order to prevent water shortage in the future. The solution was rather simple. From that time on, new ditches were dug on the slopes to catch the rainwater falling on the mountains. The rainwater was channeled from mountains of Aspeboda and Gruvris to the existing ditches and ponds. By 1673 three such “diagonal ditches” were dug on the mountain Gruvrisberget and in Aspeboda. Here too in the mountains near the Puttbo stretch, similar diagonal ditches were dug across the slopes to collect rainwater during the spring, summer and autumn as well as the meltwater from the winter snow.