Creek Pump Filter

[Travelover]

I pump water from a small creek (18" wide. 6 " deep) and use a 2" x 4 foot plastic well point laid on the bottom as a filter. This works great for a while, but after a few weeks, I have to pull it out and clean off the sediment. Any suggestions to make this work better? I was thinking of making a sheath closed at the upstream end or possibly floating it just below the surface. Thanks in advance.

 

[looch]

I don't know what the laws are in your area, or if you're concerned about leaving things as you found. Regardless, here's how we get water at our hunting camp.

We did some water-witching (don't start guys) and found a spring. We dug down about 8 feet and sunk two 45 gallon pickle barrels into the hole. We cut the top off the first and screwed the second to it. We also drilled holes in the first around the sides and bottom. We filled the bottom of the sunken assembly with about a foot of gravel. We had made another hole in the side of the second barrel to run the waterline. We passed the line through and on the inside installed a 90 degree elbow pointing down and to that added enough line to have it (with a foot valve) submerged in water. The pickle barrels are nice because they come with lids that you can screw on to prevent debris from falling in.

You could do the same close to this creek - but again, I don't know if you have concerns. We did this way up in the middle of knowhere.

 

[Carl_NH]

A couple of options;

- bury the well point horizontally in the stream bed 6-8" and fill with 3/4 stone and cover with some plastic window screen (you can brush it off easily)
- encase the well point inside a perforated 6" PVC pipe filled with stone
- bury a 5gallon pail in the stream bed filled with stone and the foot valve at the bottom

I am sure there are other methods too, just a few suggestions.

Carl