Does anybody know if a pool pump and a pool sand filter would clean water from a spring fed pond enough to be able to drink it?  And can i use sand, gravel, and charcoal in the filter instead of just sand?
Will the water be pumped too fast to actually be cleaned? Can i do this and add a filter using the 3 to filter from a storage tank and have clean drinking water?

So many questions for my brain to handle right now!
Maybe im thinking way too far out of the box!
Please feel free to help me...or call me a nut lol
Anybody with any experience with this?
Suggestions and comments welcome!

I don't know the answer to your question, but I added your post to the "Plumbing" forum, and gave it a big BUMP!

I use a pool type sand filter for my pond based irrigation system and much fine sediment and microbiology get's through.Those filters are for cleaning "big" stuff out of swimming pools.You could use it as a primary and pump into a slow sand filter/biochar bed and then into a holding tank for domestic use.There are membrane/cartridge filters for pool systems that will filter down to 25 microns or so.they're relatively expensive and tedious to clean but would provide potable water.It would be useful to do some water testing and find out exactly what you're trying to filter.

Jeffrey Bodony wrote:I use a pool type sand filter for my pond based irrigation system and much fine sediment and microbiology get's through.Those filters are for cleaning "big" stuff out of swimming pools.You could use it as a primary and pump into a slow sand filter/biochar bed and then into a holding tank for domestic use.There are membrane/cartridge filters for pool systems that will filter down to 25 microns or so.they're relatively expensive and tedious to clean but would provide potable water.It would be useful to do some water testing and find out exactly what you're trying to filter.

Thanks, I was thinking of what you suggest. Homesteading is always a process of experimentation and implementation! I plan on getting a water test done to see just what im dealing with. Using the pool sand filter as a preliminary filter, then sending the water through a slow filter should do the trick. Of course i am going to be testing the water even after the secondary slow filter system.
Love to have a few more heads than mine helping
figure things out!

Probably what you want is called a "Slow Sand Filter" it's actually a biological filter rather than just a mechanical filter.

Good info here:
http://www.slowsandfilter.org/index_mobile.html

You might want to run the output through a ceramic filter just to be sure you get rid of all the pathogens.

I'd also recommend having the water tested to make sure it doesn't have any heavy metals, etc. in it that might slip through the filters.