Need to pump water from river to flood yard - Semi-trash pump?

I have no idea what I'm doing.

I moved to a house on about .75 acres. I'll be doing some serious sheet mulching this fall/winter. Right now, I'm having drought issues.

I live next to the Skookumchuck River, and I have water rights that run with the land. The bank is close to vertical, and there are large pointy (that's a technical term) boulders at the river's edge. IOW, I cannot walk down to the river's edge without risking dashing my brains on the rocks. (I almost did brain myself trying to cut back those #$@&* blackberries. My dog tossed tennis balls on my head while I dragged myself up the bank.)

The area I need to flood is about 15-20 feet above the river level in the summer.

I'm looking at semi-trash pumps, but I have no idea what I'm looking at or for. I'd probably flood ~300 square ft once a week until this drought is over. I'm not trying to water a lawn; I have some old growth trees that are looking pretty sad, especially the redwood. The hazelnut trees look terrible, too.

Right now I'm using city water and a sprinkler, but I'd like to grab some water from the river when we're in drought conditions. I'll also need to fill/drain a duck pond next summer.

Please help out this Philly girl who is learning to be a cool ass Washingtonian.

Thank you!

I don't know much about pumps - sorry. But as I read your post I was wondering if you could use a rain barrel to collect water from the roof, then let it drain through a hose onto your raised bed?

Thanks so much for responding, Kim!

I'll be set up to collect water by Sept/Oct., but right now, we're in a drought. I'm not trying to water any raised bed - I just want to flood part of my yard once of twice a week.

I'm about to post a couple videos that might help explain the situation.

Sorry - I think I got mixed up because you needed to raise the water from the river. My mistake.

You might want to consider a marine bilge pump. Not sure about your power sources but with a 12 volt pump you can use your car. Secure the pump inside a 5 gallon bucket that has been drilled with 1/8 or 1/4 holes all over so it keeps debris from clogging the pump. Tie a rope to the pump and bucket and lower them to the river.

@Kim: No worries!

@JD: No power source nearby, plus if the open the dam upstream, everything is going to go to the Chehalis River.

I'm waiting for the videos to load to the cloud. I think I can embed them. Will find out soon enough!

Okay - let's see if this loads

No power source and wanting ~20ft head on a pump is asking a lot.  There's no solar pump I can think of that would work.  You could run one off a gas generator, or as JD mentioned, your car, although I'd be pretty concerned about draining the battery.  Submersible pumps actually draw less power the more pressure, but that 20 ft lift is going to be tough.  Pumps use an 800-1000% power spike when they prime, and that much of a rise is going to add to the prime duration.

You might be able to do an airlift with an air pump?  Don't know if it can go that high. Most likely not.

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11704&sid=3805f2540cc5d4e5bdd52bc327ef5df3

I guess if I were in your situation I would get an aquaponics or pond pump rated for 20ft head and attach it to a generator.  Sounds like a tough problem.

@Rob: Yeah. Trash pumps run on gasoline, and the lift on a relatively inexpensive one can be around 25 ft. I can't physically get to the water's edge, so I would just throw the intake hose into the river. I wouldn't go through all of this if my trees didn't look like a wildfire looking for a place to happen. It's a shame. Most are old growth, they're on the side of a river for Pete's sake, yet they're parched.

How much height difference is between the river bank (where you can safely be) and the water? If it isn't too much, a two-stage approach might work:
A small submersed pump (example) that feeds another pump (could be the same type).
The pumps would be powered by a 50W solar panel.
Just make sure to put the pump that is in the river in a protective casing that also filters the inflow. (A plastic bottle might work.)

A gas powered pump might be the solution for you.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Pulsar-3-HP-Gas-Powered-1-in-Semi-Trash-Water-Pump-PWP10/302907272

Beth Johnson wrote:@Rob: Yeah. Trash pumps run on gasoline, and the lift on a relatively inexpensive one can be around 25 ft. I can't physically get to the water's edge, so I would just throw the intake hose into the river. I wouldn't go through all of this if my trees didn't look like a wildfire looking for a place to happen. It's a shame. Most are old growth, they're on the side of a river for Pete's sake, yet they're parched.

Well I hope you can save them.  Trees are resilient so fingers crossed!

So Beth with 20 ft of suction lift you are approaching the limit of how high a standard jet pump can lift water before the pump. Do you have ac power at the house? If you do you position a standard jet pump as close to the source of water as possible run a suction line to the river, put a foot valve on the end prime the line and start the pump. The first run will be hard to get it primed but once set up you just leave it there and pump as you need it. If it's more them 25 ft of lift from river to your yard you would have to use what is called a 2 pipe jet pump specifically made for higher lifts.  Or you position the pump closer to water and run a power cord to it.
In solar the only good pump I know that can do the work is the dankoff pump positioned close to the water with a panel and linear actuator https://www.altestore.com/store/solar-water-pumps/surface-solar-pumps/solar-slowpump/dankoff-slowpump-1322-24-24vdc-surface-pump-p452/
Really expensive though propably more then a season of municipal water... for now.
Cheers , David

Thanks to all for helping me!

I decided to go the path of least resistance for now - I bought a trash pump. I bought  a 3" version of this pump. The max intake lift is 26 ft (26,not 25? Trying to impress with 12" ). I can use a short discharge hose, or none, because the land slopes downward from the bank.

I'll let you know how it goes once I receive it.

Thanks again!

Is the water level where the river enters your property higher than some lower accessible part of your property?

If so then you might not need a pump at all, at least not directly in/pumping from the river. Just a long hose. Put one end in the river as far upstream as you can and the other end low enough for a syphon to work. You will most likely need to part fill the hose with water to get it running at first, but you can do this from the end on dry land. Once you have your water outlet on a convenient piece of land you will probably still want to pump it higher but you won't be messing about with a perilous river bank and having to prime several feet of dry hose.