Shallow wells for garden and landscaping

[Pat]

When I hired a PE soils guy to help me with foundation design he got a sub to drill a 6 inch diameter bore hole for taking samples every 6 inches till we hit solid rock. The next day the ground water had filled the bore hole to within 5 ft of the surface.

I have no clue what pump rate could have been sustained but wondered about efficacy of a few shallow wells for irrigation (garden and landscaping)

I think the ground water is contained in a layer of mostly sand starting from 1 to 2 feet below the surface and continuing to a rock shelf. The water in this sand layer runs slowly southward toward the South Canadian River. Where it happens upon some of my ponds it donates water to them.

An alternative is to just take water from the nearest of the 12 ponds, especially the "spring fed" ones that stay up really well in droughts as it is likely the same water I would get if I sank some shallow wells.

Any thoughts?

Pat

[Bird]

I don't know why you couldn't use wells, Pat. Many years ago, my granddad bored one small well on which he used one of the long skinny buckets, rope, and pulley to draw water for his chickens. Then he had two dug wells with electric pumps for watering the yard and garden. And that was in town in Ardmore. He never ran out of water, and in fact, sometimes in the Spring, when it rained a good bit, the water would be right at the surface and he'd pump water out into the street to get the ground dry enough to plant his garden.

[Pat]

I was sort of vacillating between which approach to take. Let the ground water where I need water flow on down to one of the ponds and pump it from the pond or sink a well or two and get the water that way. I'm sort of leaning toward taking it from the ponds.

Pat

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] How about a nice windmill that could pump ground water from a drilled well into the pond, and then a nice booster pump system from the pond to the landscape water distribution system? Windmills usually need some kind of surge tank so the pond would work perfect for that, plus, the look of that classic Aermotor would give your spread some real ranch character. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] I have a buddy out in Californey who uses a windmill and tank system for domestic water. There is a float switch in the tank that activates a small electric submersible pump that is screwed onto the bottom of the windmill pump where the check valve and screen would normally go. If they have a period of no wind the sub will come on via the float switch. Another buddy has a spring on his property; a spring which is 700 lineal feet and 300 vertical feet from his house. I designed a high pressure system for him that jacks the water uphill through triple X PVC pipe and goes past the house to a water tank 100 feet higher than the house. A float switch and a tricky radio control transmitter signals the three-piston electric pump in the spring house to begin pumping. So his total lift is about 400 feet plus the friction loss. His discharge manifold pressure when pumping is just under 200 PSIG. That system has been operating since 1985 and so far he he has only replaced pump piston gaskets and one flooded accumulator. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[egon]

A nice rod pump windmill would surely work for irrigation purposes. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] As well as filling watering troughs for the ranch stock. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Also add aeration windmills to each pond. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] That will make the fish very happy. Especially in the winter. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

In one farming area in Northern Alberta there are no water wells due to geology of the area. Everyone has a pond with an aeration system for water. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]
Egon

[Pat]

Dave, I have been sort of keeping my eyes open for an old but usable or repairable wind mill for decorative purposes.

I have a small but continuous stream of water flowing from 3 out of 5 pipes (4 inch) and much of the time a smaller but continuous stream from the other 2. There are 4 of these coming from French drains at my basement foundation. I have a French drain runing all around the foundation on the inside and another on the outside. I ran both ends of both drains down near the lowest of 3 ponds in our yard. On the uphill side of the house I have an intercepting trench with a 4 inch perf pipe in it. This is in an "L" shape on the north and east side of the basement. it is lead separately to the pond too.

These have been running continuously since installation (shortly after basement walls had forming removed. They are draining ground water from around the basement so there will not be a head of pressure to force water through the unsealed basement walls. Maybe if I sink a well or two I will just be tapping the same source and not actually getting more water, just accessing it from a different place.

The ground water reservoir is a layer of sand starting a foot or two below the surface and continuing several feet, varying from maybe 8 ft to 12 ft or so to the rock below the sand. Maybe I could just let the water end up in the pond and take back via a pump what I would use for watering. Maybe one of those siphon attachments on some garden hoses would successfully draw pond water into the stream in the hose, reducing my potable water use by including pond water in the stream used for watering plants.

I have never had a windmill but would like one. I saw a small one (15 ft tall or so, just guessing) at Atwoods farm store but it turned out to be an air pump not a water pump. I had thought of letting a windmill pump water from the pond and let it run back into the pond in some decorative way like through an old pitcher pump or a small water wheel (or both) or ??? unless needed for irrigating a garden or whatever.

Pat

[Pop Alexandra]

I was sort of vacillating between which approach to take. Let the ground water where I need water flow on down to one of the ponds and pump it from the pond or sink a well or two and get the water that way. I'm sort of leaning toward taking it from the ponds.

Pat

Should work just fine, especially if the soil is moist in the area. There shouldn't be a noticeable difference.
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Alexandra from Summerwood sheds