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I need water for my garden, the garden is in the low land area close to the branch (creek), the branch always has water in it but not convenience to use to water from the branch.
I thinking put in a drive well with hand pump, cost seem to be manageable, $100 for the well point and some pipe. Is it worth the risk or just wasting my money and time?.
If the zoning regulations and water usage laws in your area allow you to drive a well for non-potable (or even potable) uses then I'd say go for it if you think that you'll hit a reasonable amount of water in a shallow well or make a deeper driven well cost-effective. Keep in mind that a typical hand pump is only good for about 20 feet, after that you'll need to drive wider pipes for a different type of hand pump or an electric pump.
I've been doing some research and think I'm going to go with them as a backup to my existing well.
If the power goes out..I want my water I do have a holding tank so a small temp outage (a few hours from a thunderstorm) but want some backup security in case power goes out for an extended period.
Yep, there are several manufacturers who make deep well hand pumps, they just need a larger diameter pipe to be driven in than the shallow ones. I think I'll just start out with the bigger pipe, just in case I don't hit water shallow enough to use a cistern pump. It would suck to drive in 20 feet of 1 1/4" pipe only to find out that you have to start all over with 2" pipe for a deep well pump cylinder.
Although, if the OP has rights to the water in the creek and the creek is on his property, it might be more efficient to dig an irrigation trench to his garden. Just because there's surface water in the creek doesn't necessarily mean there is ground water near it to hit with a well.
I've been doing some research and think I'm going to go with them as a backup to my existing well.
If the power goes out..I want my water I do have a holding tank so a small temp outage (a few hours from a thunderstorm) but want some backup security in case power goes out for an extended period.
Wabanaki:
Is your garden lower than the branch?
How far is your garden from the branch?
Do you have water rights to the branch?
Is the branch on your property, or do you have easement rights to access it if it's on someone else's property?
Do you know the water table in your area?
Do you get good rain in your area?
Does your garden area drain fast or does it tend to hold water?
There are several options for getting the water to your garden, in addition to a well, but we need to know some more details
the answers are in Italic.
Thanks.
oh, the house is about 2400 feet away from the garden.
I currently building a pond near the garden, i believed it is spring feed pond, the water seem to fill up when no rain in the area.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MissingAll4Seasons
Wabanaki:
Is your garden lower than the branch?
- the garden is about 10 feet higher elevation than the creek.
How far is your garden from the branch? - about 30 feet away.
Do you have water rights to the branch? - the small branch is on my property,
Is the branch on your property, or do you have easement rights to access it if it's on someone else's property? - i assume i own the branch since it is on my property.
Do you know the water table in your area? -the house well hit the water table at 320 feet, the ground level is at 520 feet elevation. the creek is at about 300 feet elevation.
Do you get good rain in your area? - i live in central Virginia, rain here spread out very well 3"-5" each month.
Does your garden area drain fast or does it tend to hold water? -it tend to hold water for 2-3 days after it rain, i end up plant my veg of raised bed. when no rain it needs water.
There are several options for getting the water to your garden, in addition to a well, but we need to know some more details
Last edited by wabanaki; 08-12-2010 at 05:01 PM..
Reason: more info
If your garden were a little closer to the creek then you might have been able to draw the water up diagonally with a pipe in the creek and cistern pump on the garden end... but you're just a little too far away for that to be effective (cistern pumps usually only work to about 20').
If I'm reading the VA statute correctly, since the stream is on your property, you do have water rights to it... but you should check with your county registrar just to be sure.
Given that you get decent rain and your garden is low and holds water well, you might do best with a rain water catchment system for your garden instead of trying to divert water from the creek or drive a well. Even a simple pole shed with a plain metal roof (no walls) could collect a lot of rain in barrels or a buried tank. If you figure that your garden needs an inch of water a week, then you'll be able to figure out how many gallons you need to store for the drier months and how big a roof you'd need to catch enough rain.
For example:
garden is 10x20 = 200 sq ft = 28800 sq in
28800 sq in x 1 in of water needed = 28800 x 1 = about 28800 cu in/wk
about 231 cubic inches in a gallon= 28800 / 231 = about 125 gal/wk
Each square foot of roof will collect a little over a half gallon of water for every inch of rain, so you'd need a roof that was about 250 sq ft.
But, since you already get an average of 4" of rain a month (an inch a week) if you had a roof the same size as your garden, you could easily collect enough rain for your garden use during the dry times.
I will try the rain water catchment system when i build the garden shed, another project in the pipe line.
Many of my neighbor only garden in spring and they seem to depending on rain a lot, i would like to continue my garden in to the fall will need some way to water the garden.
I am currently use the 12 volts RV pump to pump water from the creek to 32 gallons plastic garbage containers(6). It is a pain to carry battery for the pump and bring it back to the house to recharge, but it is working for now.
Yesterday i went to C'ville to check out the Well Point at Tractor Supply store, the stainless steel screen fell like it could get damage during drive the well point in to ground, that deter me to spend $ 60 for the point and $40 for 2 section of galvanize pipe.
On the way home i stopped at the Habitat for Humanity store, some one must have it laying in their garage for the past 20 plus years unused. i got it for $10. , well point and 2 section for galvanize pipe.
I will give it a try this week end and will let you know.
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I do have a holding tank so a small temp outage (a few hours from a thunderstorm) but want some backup security in case power goes out for an extended period.
