I bought this house about 2 months ago and have had a real run
around about my water rights. I need to water a large pasture for
livestock.
Anyway, I hired someone to put in a water hydrant connected to
my water from the house to the barn. While digging the trench he ran
into a 4 inch green plastic water line at about 5 feet down and water
began gushing up into the trench quite rapidly. There was no reason a
water line should be in that location. We quickly dammed up the
trench and when the water reached ground level it slowed down, which
gave me the impression that it was artesian water, While the plumber
called for a gas pump to get the water level down for repairs, I
started calling all the well drillers in the area.
This well was put in about 45-50 years ago, no one I talked to
knew anything about it. The last well driller in the yellow pages told
me that the person who drilled most of the wells in this area died a
while back. I was informed one of the things he would do with
artesian wells was to but a drain line in the casing. This was to
prevent the water freezing in the well head above ground.
At the back of my property is a small river, I went back and
sighted to where the plumber was doing the repairs and found where the
pipe exited down a very steep bank buried in thick brush gushing a
surpising amount of clean clear water.
The artesian pressure isn't much at about 2 ft above the
ground but has an amazing flow from a 4 inch line 5 ft underground.
The well itself is 220 ft deep. This has been flowing thousands of
gallons of water into the river 24 hours a day.
Anyway my queston is how do I go about using all this water
for irrigating my pasture? I have a 1.5 hp ditch pump and have been
trying to think of a way to redirect this water back onto my property.
Now that I know this water has been here all along I can quit trying
to talk to these uncooperative people in the irrigation dept. (the
head-gate is over 2 miles away)

On 9/4/2005 7:59 AM US(ET), Adiabatic took fingers to keys, and typed
the following:

I bought this house about 2 months ago and have had a real run
around about my water rights. I need to water a large pasture for
livestock.
Anyway, I hired someone to put in a water hydrant connected to
my water from the house to the barn. While digging the trench he ran
into a 4 inch green plastic water line at about 5 feet down and water
began gushing up into the trench quite rapidly. There was no reason a
water line should be in that location. We quickly dammed up the
trench and when the water reached ground level it slowed down, which
gave me the impression that it was artesian water, While the plumber
called for a gas pump to get the water level down for repairs, I
started calling all the well drillers in the area.
This well was put in about 45-50 years ago, no one I talked to
knew anything about it. The last well driller in the yellow pages told
me that the person who drilled most of the wells in this area died a
while back. I was informed one of the things he would do with
artesian wells was to but a drain line in the casing. This was to
prevent the water freezing in the well head above ground.
At the back of my property is a small river, I went back and
sighted to where the plumber was doing the repairs and found where the
pipe exited down a very steep bank buried in thick brush gushing a
surpising amount of clean clear water.
The artesian pressure isn't much at about 2 ft above the
ground but has an amazing flow from a 4 inch line 5 ft underground.
The well itself is 220 ft deep. This has been flowing thousands of
gallons of water into the river 24 hours a day.
Anyway my queston is how do I go about using all this water
for irrigating my pasture? I have a 1.5 hp ditch pump and have been
trying to think of a way to redirect this water back onto my property.
Now that I know this water has been here all along I can quit trying
to talk to these uncooperative people in the irrigation dept. (the
head-gate is over 2 miles away)





Although you say the well was built 45 or 50 years ago, the green
plastic pipe is an indication that the drain pipe was installed in later
years (sometime after 1980). 50 years ago, the pipe would have been
iron, tile, pitch impregnated fiber pipe (Orangeburg Pipe
http://www.sewerhistory.org/grfx/components/pipe-orng1.htm), or some
other non-plastic material. Talk to your local building department. They
should know if there is an easement on your property for the drain and
whether you can tap into it. If they don't know either, tap into it. The
worse that can happen is that someone who is affected by your tapping
into the line will make a complaint and you will have to remove the tap.
Since you made inquiries and got no answers, you can fight any fines
that may incrue from the tapping.


--
Bill

"Adiabatic" wrote in message
news
I bought this house about 2 months ago and have had a real run
around about my water rights. I need to water a large pasture for
livestock.
Anyway, I hired someone to put in a water hydrant connected to
my water from the house to the barn. While digging the trench he ran
into a 4 inch green plastic water line at about 5 feet down and water
began gushing up into the trench quite rapidly. There was no reason a
water line should be in that location. We quickly dammed up the
trench and when the water reached ground level it slowed down, which
gave me the impression that it was artesian water, While the plumber
called for a gas pump to get the water level down for repairs, I
started calling all the well drillers in the area.
This well was put in about 45-50 years ago, no one I talked to
knew anything about it. The last well driller in the yellow pages told
me that the person who drilled most of the wells in this area died a
while back. I was informed one of the things he would do with
artesian wells was to but a drain line in the casing. This was to
prevent the water freezing in the well head above ground.
At the back of my property is a small river, I went back and
sighted to where the plumber was doing the repairs and found where the
pipe exited down a very steep bank buried in thick brush gushing a
surpising amount of clean clear water.
The artesian pressure isn't much at about 2 ft above the
ground but has an amazing flow from a 4 inch line 5 ft underground.
The well itself is 220 ft deep. This has been flowing thousands of
gallons of water into the river 24 hours a day.
Anyway my queston is how do I go about using all this water
for irrigating my pasture? I have a 1.5 hp ditch pump and have been
trying to think of a way to redirect this water back onto my property.
Now that I know this water has been here all along I can quit trying
to talk to these uncooperative people in the irrigation dept. (the
head-gate is over 2 miles away)

A hydraulic ram pump would be the most energy-efficient way to pump some
water if you can locate it so there is enough head. A ram pump has to be
placed such that most of the water it receives drains away. See:
http://www.lifewater.ca/ram_pump.htm

TKM

On Sun, 04 Sep 2005 05:59:22 -0600, Adiabatic wrote:

I bought this house about 2 months ago and have had a real run
around about my water rights. I need to water a large pasture for
livestock.
Anyway, I hired someone to put in a water hydrant connected to
my water from the house to the barn. While digging the trench he ran
into a 4 inch green plastic water line at about 5 feet down and water
began gushing up into the trench quite rapidly. There was no reason a
water line should be in that location. We quickly dammed up the
trench and when the water reached ground level it slowed down, which
gave me the impression that it was artesian water, While the plumber
called for a gas pump to get the water level down for repairs, I
started calling all the well drillers in the area.
This well was put in about 45-50 years ago, no one I talked to
knew anything about it. The last well driller in the yellow pages told
me that the person who drilled most of the wells in this area died a
while back. I was informed one of the things he would do with
artesian wells was to but a drain line in the casing. This was to
prevent the water freezing in the well head above ground.
At the back of my property is a small river, I went back and
sighted to where the plumber was doing the repairs and found where the
pipe exited down a very steep bank buried in thick brush gushing a
surpising amount of clean clear water.
The artesian pressure isn't much at about 2 ft above the
ground but has an amazing flow from a 4 inch line 5 ft underground.
The well itself is 220 ft deep. This has been flowing thousands of
gallons of water into the river 24 hours a day.
Anyway my queston is how do I go about using all this water
for irrigating my pasture? I have a 1.5 hp ditch pump and have been
trying to think of a way to redirect this water back onto my property.
Now that I know this water has been here all along I can quit trying
to talk to these uncooperative people in the irrigation dept. (the
head-gate is over 2 miles away)

First thing you do, is shut your trap. You have a very litiguous
item there and you are going to suffer major headache if you go around
sharing information about it with others.

On Sun, 04 Sep 2005 05:59:22 -0600, Adiabatic wrote
Re Arttesian well question, drain on the casing?:

Anyway my queston is how do I go about using all this water
for irrigating my pasture? I have a 1.5 hp ditch pump and have been
trying to think of a way to redirect this water back onto my property.
Now that I know this water has been here all along I can quit trying
to talk to these uncooperative people in the irrigation dept. (the
head-gate is over 2 miles away)

If I read you correctly, the water well has enough head to reach the
ground surface. If that is the case, and you don't have to pump it
much higher to get it to the pasture, a 1hp pump installed at ground
level should work fine. A 1hp pump will deliver about 250gpm against a
15' head at 100% efficiency. Select the pump efficiency that you want
to buy and apply that to the previous numbers.

Just build an enclosure around it to keep it from freezing.

Sorry, I don't know what typical home/farm well pump effieiencies
ranges are. Does anyone here know?
--
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