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wells and springs

Tapping a spring without using plastic

zurcian braun

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posted 5 years ago

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Hey there Permies,

Does anyone have any recommendations/resources for tapping a spring without using plastic for the barrier dam and the surfacewater protection cover? I would like to avoid if possible. Would a barrier of stone and clay be enough to hold back the water? I'm not a carpenter and don't really have access to much wood so I think that building something out of wood is an option. And as for keeping surface water out, both springs are in small arroyos that flow during big rains. Lot's of horse, cow, and sheep around. I'm curious about how difficult it might be to make some kind of filter on top of my collection area with natural materials. Thanks for your time!

cf

John C Daley

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An arroyo (/əˈrɔɪoʊ/; from Spanish arroyo Spanish: [aˈroʝo], "brook"), also called a wash, is a dry creek, stream bed or gulch that temporarily or
seasonally fills and flows after sufficient rain. Flash floods are common in arroyos following thunderstorms.

In my experience, the presence of the livestock would destroy any ability to use that water within a household.
What are you collecting water for?

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zurcian braun

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Hey there, it is water intended for drinking. Are you saying that even with a plastic barrier you can't keep out livestock contaminants from a spring?

John C Daley

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I worked as a water Engineer on farms and all over.
Even with the Environment Protection Agency here.
Seasonal flows of water usually have a catchment area that cannot hold water, its either bare ground,
has no water holding capacity.
Thus the flow will essentially be water thats landed on the ground nearby, washed through any excretement from the animals.
Picking up pathogens on the way.
Water needs either time or treatment facilities to make it safe for humans.
I doubt it would be practical to treat the water, mainly because of cost.
If you let it settle in a 5000 gallon tank for a long time, 2 months. it may work.

Tell me more about the use of the land. You may be able to catch roof water which is very common in Australia.
Regards

R Scott

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People have been developing springs long before plastic was invented. Rock and clay work, a little cement mortar would make it easier. Big flat rock for a lid. You need to make it tall enough to keep surface water out, which may be really tough if it is in the bottom of a wash.

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zurcian braun

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Hey there, thank you for the replies. I took some pictures for clarity.

So here are the two springs, each in a different wash/gulch/arroyo that runs during heavy rains.

The first spring is deeper, about 7 feet tall at the backside and about 4x4 width.

The second is quite a bit smaller at around a couple feet tall at the backside

Does anyone think that this can potentially be tapped safely for drinking water? Any recommendations on how to proceed?

Thank you:)

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John C Daley

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Aside from the use of the water, you may have a bad case of soil erosion forming there.
Particularly with the taller one.
First thing after thinking about the erosion is to exclude the stock from the area around the water and provide a trough for them away from the watered area.
From memory you can get small test kits to see what the water quality is like.

Cristo Balete

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Fencing off an even larger area with chicken wire, 6 inches bent out at the bottom, and metal posts, to stop all but the smallest critters would protect that area for starters. Rabbits and rats will probably leave the most poop once the larger animals are excluded. It would also protect whatever catchment basin you decide on.

There is food-grade plastic, which while it's not the perfect organic solution you may be looking for, it does let you sleep at night knowing that the flow of clean water is untouched. Getting sick because of the failure of a non-sealed or broken-sealed catchment may not be worth it.

You can always put an in-line filter before it goes into a storage tank, or before it enters the house if you think the plastic has issues.

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John C Daley

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I believe a sand filter to be effective in this application may have to be fairly large. Perhaps check.

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