pumping shed water from a stream long term

G-Man

I heard a story today of a neighbouring farm thinking of feeding 150 head of beef and 100s of fat pigs, drinking water, from a stream. River is typical, bog drainage outlet, slow flow but 5 feet wide by a 1 foot deep.

I guess some sort of elec pump and 150 metres of piping and cables will have have to be used.

Is this a sustainable setup, I mean is river water not more likely to be silty and peaty and maybe clog up tap seals and tanks over time. I guess some sort of filters could be added.

bob charles

I pump over 5 cubs a day from a river about 350m from the farm. Great benefit of it is if I wanted to I could pump 30 cubs whereas with my other well it would be dry after half an hour. dont mention the need for an extraction licence.

Farmer Pudsey

This is feasible as long as you have a mains water back up. You use this water all the time but as long as you have access to mains water in case in summer it drys uo or in winter it freeze up you are ok

pakalasa

Is it legal to pump from a river like that?

bob charles

pakalasa wrote: »

Is it legal to pump from a river like that?

If done properly yes, I presume if you want to start pump say 100 cubs a day from a river then it is a whole different story. Fisheries will be on your case if it is done incorrectly and affects fish and spawning.

jeffwode

You should have a look at these.

http://www.riferam.com/river/index.html

Or check out hydraulic ram pumps for rivers.

Edit: Here's a clip on hydraulic ram pumps.

http://www.riferam.com/rams/ramhow.html

As far as safety goes, it's worth remembering that farmers have been watering cattle directly from rivers and streams for hundreds of years. Water quality is probably a lot better today than it was 30 or 40 years ago.

G-Man

No issues suspected about river quality or permissions. I just thought that maybe a high quality well might be a better investment, but yea if river is close by, and cost of drilling well is not known, then this maybe the way to go.. Good point about the flexibility of a large stream, there is a large reserve of water there waiting to be pumped.

Would washing dairy pipelines be bit too far, or might there be a risk factor with using river water. You might be fine now, but in dry summer and stagnant water, perhaps thats a no -no. Lots of water could be used for drinking and yard washing though.

A water ram was used to pump water up the hills to many of the big estate houses, I believe. Thanks for the link, good to see they are still being made and useful to see the caclulations too.

adne

jeffwode wrote: »

You should have a look at these.

http://www.riferam.com/river/index.html

Has anyone got one of these installed, they look to be a great job

6480

adne wrote: »

Has anyone got one of these installed, they look to be a great job

i made up one of my own 3 years ago it pumps non stop out of the river up about 40 foot to a 4000 gal resveior (old oil tank) 400 meters from the pump ,it cost about 600 euro to setup the pump on the river and and 900 euro for the tank which is located on the highest point of the farm, as we have a dairy farm here it is saving me 2500 euro a year

bob charles

G-Man wrote: »

No issues suspected about river quality or permissions. I just thought that maybe a high quality well might be a better investment, but yea if river is close by, and cost of drilling well is not known, then this maybe the way to go.. Good point about the flexibility of a large stream, there is a large reserve of water there waiting to be pumped.

Would washing dairy pipelines be bit too far, or might there be a risk factor with using river water. You might be fine now, but in dry summer and stagnant water, perhaps thats a no -no. Lots of water could be used for drinking and yard washing though.

A water ram was used to pump water up the hills to many of the big estate houses, I believe. Thanks for the link, good to see they are still being made and useful to see the caclulations too.

The test results for a large % of water wells in this country isnt the greatest.

G-Man

6480 wrote: »

i made up one of my own 3 years ago it pumps non stop out of the river up about 40 foot to a 4000 gal resveior (old oil tank) 400 meters from the pump ,it cost about 600 euro to setup the pump on the river and and 900 euro for the tank which is located on the highest point of the farm, as we have a dairy farm here it is saving me 2500 euro a year

Totally home built?, Good on you
I understand a good valve is the problem to do right?
Where did you get the plans, was there much trial and error in getting it going?

6480

G-Man wrote: »

Totally home built?, Good on you
I understand a good valve is the problem to do right?
Where did you get the plans, was there much trial and error in getting it going?

i researched it a good bit on the internet , they were used a good bit in this country before esb came and are widely used today in the USA ,Australia and a lot in new zealand , i had no bother setting it up as i found one from youtube working 4 miles away from me . its really when u see one working u get to understand it better, u are welcome to come and see mine working any time