Small Cabin

Small Cabin Forum
 - Forums - Register/Sign Up - Reply - Search - Statistics -

Small Cabin Forum / General Forum / Found a water spring, what to do?
Author Message
xtolekbananx
Member
# Posted: 11 Aug 2019 21:22
Reply 


I found a water spring on my property about 200-250 feet from my cabin. The cabin is located uphill from it. The spring comes out of a hill and was hidden under some rocks. I heard some water trickling and started removing rocks and found water right under the rocks. This was just those pass few weeks ago and there was no rain so I know it is not rainwater. I would like to somehow collect the water, I was thinking about driving a shallow well pipe with screen horizontally and then maybe colect the water in a jug or something as I need it. Did anyone here ever done it? I wont drink the water I just wanna use it for washing and shower. Maybe there is a better system for it? The water keeps coming, not a big volume but keeps coming and I checked for a few weeks.

Here are some pictures. I kinda made a small dam from rocks and the water filled the hole about 2 feet deep and 4 feet wide and long in a few hours.
20190807_164726.jpg
20190807_164726.jpg
20190807_164744.jpg
20190807_164744.jpg


xtolekbananx
Member
# Posted: 11 Aug 2019 21:24 - Edited by: xtolekbananx
Reply 


Here is another
20190807_1647171.j.jpg
20190807_1647171.j.jpg


DaveBell
Moderator
# Posted: 11 Aug 2019 22:48 - Edited by: DaveBell
Reply 


I would dig a trench downhill from that point to get a clear flow. How many feet of elevation is above that point? Where it is coming out right now is still through the organic material. Keep digging longer and deeper to find a point where it is flowing well below the organic level. Water on a property is a valuable resource.

Atlincabin
Member
# Posted: 11 Aug 2019 23:57
Reply 


If the flow is sufficient, you could put in a hydraulic ram pump (google it) and pump some of it uphill to the cabin. Typically can get 8-10x the fall of head pressure, i.e., if the water flows downhill for 5 feet of elevation, you could pump a portion of that water 40-50 feet of elevation uphill. Small flow over a long time would give you plenty of water. Ram pumps are easy to make, require no power (they run on inertia of the downhill flow). I built and used one in a cabin about 35 years ago and it worked great for supplying all the water we needed with only about 3 feet of elevation drop.

Woodscavenger
Member
# Posted: 12 Aug 2019 00:21
Reply 


Look up “how to develop a seep”. I a doing it right now. Not too hard. Need a shovel, mud boots, gravel, some PVC, and dam (plastic, old barrel, rock and clay, cement, etc) and you create a predicted area and you will be amazed at how clean the water.

Brettny
Member
# Posted: 13 Aug 2019 13:21
Reply 


You need alot of water for a ram pump. But worth looking into. There are good videos out there on how to make a spring box. Getting clean water out would be my first priority. Moving it to another location would be secondary.

Tikwalus
Member
# Posted: 23 Sep 2019 22:11
Reply 


Maybe dig a shallow well above your cabin. If you live in a rainy area. Maybe rain barrel. That's just a small seep.

Your reply
Bold Style  Italic Style  Underlined Style  Thumbnail Image Link  Large Image Link  URL Link           :) ;) :-( :confused: More smilies...

» Username  » Password 
Only registered users can post here. Please enter your login/password details before posting a message, or register here first.