Alternative Water Source

You need a water supply, we need more information. How much water do you need? Why do you need a reservoir? Why is the sky blue? Please send more information.

We need about 200 gal per day at the present time but will soon need app. 1000-1500gal. Not sure we really do need a reservoir, just the way it is presently set up. It is gravity feed system and does not supply enough water for our existing needs and will be a major problem when our expansion is complete. Thanks for the questions, things to think about. Thanks again

I think I would try to bury a concrete vault at the nearest spring. Try to get it low enough to remain flooded. Fill with gravel, and run a 3" pvc pipe underground to your complex. A few isolation valves would not hurt. If the flow is not sufficient can you tap into another spring and feed your needs with two combined water sources?

You may have to test your spring first and establish a sustainable abstraction rate.

then you need to survey the route. The static height and distance and obstacles is important. also establish if you could trench all the way,

With the pump rate , distance and static available a suitable pump and driver and pipeline can be designed.

There would be more questions like do you have electricity available at the spring? and Are you allowed to use the water?

All helpful info. Will check these things out. Thanks for suggestions. Thank You

Is there a constraint on the Total Dissolved Solids levels for the new water sources, or is this just for irrigation? In the UK, an abstraction licence would be required, which can be obtained by applying to the Environment Agency.

Is just for irrigation. No permit necessary just permission of the property owner. We have prior water rights obtained before selling the property.Don't know about total dissolved solids will investigate. Thanks

You might need to check your contract. Will you need to 'lease' some surface rights to obtain the needed access to do the water extraction?

Also, how are your elevations? Can you do it WITHOUT pumps? Or do pumps once it is on your property to raise it up to the reservoir level?

Without understanding the topography, little questions like this arise.

Ya' know, it is kind of a sad commentary on our society when it requires us to get permits to abstract water from our own springs. Of course, the Environmental agency will want to know why you want to use "your/their" water, etc. and charge a fee to allow you to do your project. Just what the world needs, more effing regulations!

May not need to pump it if the spring is higher the the level of yuor reservior.

Spring is higher. Thanks for this info. I'll investigate. I believe the spring is presently set up to gravity feed but the pressure is not adequate enough to keep the resirvoir full enough to supply the amount of water we need. Thanks

Wait - is the pressure the problem or the volume of water?

both...which came first I do not know. Could have always been a problem of not enough volume. Must check on this. Thanks

Have you looked into the possibility of rainwater harvesting or graywater reuse?

From the field:

A 2,000 gallon storage tank is not very costly.

As far as the spring delivery rating if you pull out enough over a 24 hour period that it takes to supply your needs then I suggest using your 1,500-2,000 gallons from storage and slowly fill it for the next day. It may also be a good point for chemical additives if you put a blender on the tank.

Depending on your location you can loose a Lot of water from evaporation on an open reservoir.

putting a 'top' on a reservior might not be hard.

A friend put a large tank inside his 'barn', the tank was about 12' (3m) in diameter, and about 20' (6m) tall. He would 'batch pump' water from his well and use it as potable water. It was a large plastic agricultural tank that was not very costly. Being inside, the UV will not break it down. It works well for him.

When I lived in Texas, in the Austin area they were really pushing rain water catchment systems. Using rule of thumbs they would estimate how large a reservior you need if you wanted to live from it, starting at projected use, and back tracking into reservior size, then to catchment field requirements, depending on the estimated rainfalls, and probabilities of droughts, etc. There was always some risk of 'running out' but the larger the reservior reduced that risk in proportionate to it size. And at that time (early 1980's, it cost abou US$1 per galon in installed reservior for potable water use).

I hope my ramblings have been of some minor assistance.

If you have any buildings near the garden, (storage shed, house, etc) put gutters on them and use rainfall to supplement your reservoir.

Dragon

Hi again slock46

To assist you of not getting confused by ideas of considering using drop in the bucket solutions like using rainwater from the roof for irrigation purposes you need to supply us with figures to work on.

Water in some parts of the world is a scarce commodity and in the past 10 or so years the laws regarding new development turned from a free for all to strict control.

The irrigation water requirements of a crop depends on the crop, the evaporation , planting density etc.

For an example in the area where I work the water requirement for a fodder crop varies between 8000 to 14000 m³ per ha per year. That is an average of 10,000,000 litres per year per ha. As you can see the few litres from a roof won't help much.

From a spring that would require about 1 l/s of water per ha.

Pleas supply more information regarding areas , water requirements , volume shortfall etc.

It is also very important to be aware of your water law.

I could not understand the exact scenario, but if possible rain water harvesting project can be implemented