I have a water weep

[forgeblast]

I got to do some work there today. I cut back a lot of the veg and overgrowth that was in the weep itself. Mostly red dogwood. I then took a rake and moved all the leaves out of the water and then took a shovel and
dug the mud and roots out of the way.
I think I have a very good little spring there. It was starting to clean up as I was leaving, i had hit gravel, and could see where it was coming out of the ground and it was moving pretty good.
My next step is going to look at building a little well box and then test the water.
I really apprecaite the help, I fogot my camera and when I go back out there Ill take some pics. thanks again for the help.

 

[Egon]

Four foot diameter manhole sections work well for what you have in mind. They do come in different lengths and there are also cast concrete covers!:thumbsup:

 

[Jstpssng]

Gravel is a good sign. Ihad one on my property which I had dug out with an excavator; they hit ledge a few feet down and the water was surging out in multiple places. :thumbsup: I dumped in about 10 yards of gravel screenings, buried a well tile, and ran a 1inch line to my house, which gravity fed until I hooked the pump up. In a 3 day period summer 2011 I pumped about 10000 gallons of water from it.

 

[txdon]

Has anyone developed a weep, or do you have any info on what to do with one.
thanks
Forgeblast

I have one also. Last year during the drought it dried up giving me the chance to dig it out. Here is the TBN thread about it opening it back up. My water is coming from the side of the hole dug between sand and clay layers. This weep is on a fault line at the base of a large sand hill. It has only dried up this one time in the last 20 years.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/216321-opening-up-spring-track-hoe.html

 

[SPIKER]

Just wanted to mention that I hope this is not down hill from your septic system

some good info already. Just be sure to get it tested if you intend of drinking I have a LOT of springs on my place and tried once to clean one out in the creek bottom to deepen it and it ended up closing in on that spot and moved 30 or so feet off and right in my tractor path..

Mark

 

[forgeblast]

Just wanted to mention that I hope this is not down hill from your septic system
I had to laugh at that, but its a great question. No its not coming from my septic, or neighbors septic. A picture is worth a thousand words so we I go out to prune some apples today Ill take a few pics.
Don thanks for the link, And Egon great idea. My buddy drives past a place that does these everyday. Ill have to have him stop and check it out.
I just bought a very good test, to see about the water quality. I would not drink it without running it through a filter though.
Watersafe Well Water Test Kit
I also just got there .02 sawyer filter.

 

[Davinator]

You might want to research using a "ram pump" if the flow is sufficient. The ram is powered by the water itself (no electric required) and is capable of moving water up hill over very considerable distances. Do a search on YouTube for tons of information. Good luck!

 

[forgeblast]

I have some ram pumps bookmarked. This would be something that I would put a small hand pump on, just for emergency use.
When I went to look at it I was really happy. The water cleared up to be crystal clear. It was muddy and leaf filled yesterday.
This picture is the inlet, where the water is coming from.

This picture shows the current size.

This is the water cleared up.

As you can see there are some indicator species of a wetland, the red dogwood love it there. I cleared out a lot of them and there are still more.
When I develop it I will work on getting the sides stabalized and make it nice with fieldstone.

 

[txdon]

Forgeblast, be sure you make it wide enough to be able to clean out the sand and silt that will accumulate. I'm looking for something to hook on to my FEL or BH to lower into the 30"x 6' culvert grab the sand and silt and clean it out. I'm visioning something like those toy machines that let you grab a toy and drop it in the out chute.

 

[forgeblast]

Do to medical bills from trying to have my daughter (shes 4 this year), I have 2 more years of loans to pay off. Before this its all hand shoveling, after the two years I will be able to look at tractors with purchase in mind instead of just dreaming. So anything I do will be hand powered. The third picture is the low side, I would be able to get a back hoe in there easy to scoop anything out.