Filter System for Irrigation

My first thought is to use a swimming pool pump basket filter with a 1 gallon paint strainer fitted over the basket, if needed.

Next up would be a search of Harrington, Ryan Herco, or Grainger to find something that will work for you.

I don't have a "perfect" solution for you yet but in order to get some education on the subject with a few possible ideas, go down to your local fire house and start a conversation with one of the guys that drives a pumper. Ask him to show you: a barrel strainer; a floating strainer; and a low level strainer. If they don't have them go to a more rural fire house which does not have many hydrants in its response area. It should have them.

The barrel strainer is usually about 6-8" in diameter, about 15" long and attaches onto a piece of 6" hard suction hose. This unit gross filters up to 1,000 gpm. Maybe you could make some adaptation of it.

A floating strainer is essentially a barrel strainer that is suspended from a float. This type of adaptation could be your answer for the flotsam that you are encountering. Would not be expensive to make one out of available materials. If you are using a submerged pump such as a sump pump you could even suspend it from a float.

The low level strainer is used to draft (pump from) from low level bodies of water such as a porta-tank (similar to a portable swimming pool). It also has a filter in it, usually similar to 1/4" hardware cloth mesh.

Go down to the fire house and strike up a conversation but watch who you talk to. Some fire personnel are second only to fishermen in the stretching of the facts in their tales. Some one who will take the units out of the compartments and let you handle them is the best one to talk to.

Another possibility is to Google "Task Force Tips" and go to their web site. They sell each of these items although you will see more at the fire house.

Good Luck, Old Salt, EX-Fire Chief, fire truck driver, and retired Chem Eng

A couple of weirs, one flowing over one flowing under should catch anything either floating or settling on the bottom. the outflow of the weir could then flow into a bed of gravel then sand. on the bottom of the sand lay a perforated intake pipe with a geo-cloth sock over it. feed that to your pump intake. use a diaphragm type trash pump for additional junk tolerance.

Not a bad idea at all, GA. I would do the under weir before the over to eliminate the floating debris. Another way that has been done a lot, is to actually dig a well beside or near the canal. You can have a large setback with the well if you are into the same alluvial plain as the canal. The well would have to be dug with a backhoe and use large diameter pipe like galvanized or concrete. Expect the alluvial deposits to be fine clay or silt and use pea stone gravel as a pack around the well. The large diameter will help to slow the flow rate into the well and keep the fines away. Your footvalve for the irrigation system should be inside the well. It may cost more but will outlive most irrigation systems.

Create a trap dome over and around any water inlet areas with progressively larger chicken wire all the way up to the roll mesh used to reinforce concrete.

a few layers with a few inches or more between them will allow a free flow for a long time with minimal cost and maintenance.

Thanks to everyone for the ideas. Another idea I have is to use an "EZ Flow French Drain" which has a center pipe with slots cut ito it randomly. Around the center pipe is about 2" of filter material which looks kinda like the styrafoam packing peanuts. This is then wrapped with a filtering mesh. I would run the EZ Flow down through the 10" PVC which would rest on top of gravel inside of a 55 Gal. drum set down patially in the canal bed. I could run my suction pipe inside the central pipe of the EZ Flow, down below water level. The PVC pipe would have holes drilled in it so water could flow into the EZ Flow. I could also wrap the entire PVC pipe with weed block fabric, etc. The EZ flow comes in an 8" diameter which would fit nicely into the 10" PVC. Thoughts?

First, I'd install a surface weir...say an old wooden box or solid concrete blocks, followed by a series of pool strainers (with removable baskets)....Hayward makes some decent inexpensive ones. On the second strainer unit (closest to the pump) I'd either wrap the outside of the strainer basket with filter fabric or an old nylon stocking held into place with 2 or 3 large rubber bands.

Following the pump (on the discharge line) I suggest that you install a Hayward pool filter and use Diatomaceous earth (DE) to help remove suspended solids in the water and some organics in solution...that way you will either reduce or prevent to clogging of you irrigation sprinkler heads, a major maintenance headache. Make sure to add the DE at the second strainer basket location on the pump suction line. A 10# bag of DE costs you around $10 at Walmart or Lowe's. You may have to add a algaecide if too much algae is present in the canal water....you can purchase that also at Wally's or Lowe's too. Use either a copper sulfate or polymer product.

Good luck!

Since you are using a centrifugal pump, which has good suction, consider a driven well point. It can be hand driven with a rented driver, or make your own out of a piece of pipe. The well point will be below the lowest level of the stream, and if it's in a good sandy spot, you will get good flow. Usually you have to pump off the point for a while to clear the water. After that you will have a fairly maintenance free unit. A suction gauge will tell you if the point gets stopped up. Points are fairly cheap.

Try these guys. may be overkill, but they may have what you need......http://www.morrillinc.com/