Pump out of the river

[rickyb01]

The River is about 200 yds from the back of my home. It is very shallow and is about three feet deep 50 yds from the bank. There is also a12' drop from Back of house and River. I would like to pump water and set up a sprinkler system for my lawn. Neighbors on both sides of me said to run sprinklers off city water because of expense to buy pump. This River is also real sandy so you have to throw that in to the mix. Looking at cost the water meter from city is 550.00 and to water during the three hottest months will run 200.00 per month. Looking for advice on how to get water up from River or taking neighbors advice. Thanks Ricky

 

[Valveman]

I would build a little sump or pond on the side of the river. This will work like a stilling well to let the sand settle to the bottom and give you enough depth and volume to set a pump. A submersible with a shroud or flow inducer sleeve can be thrown into or mounted many ways in the sump or stilling well. Then you can control it with a pump start relay from a sprinkler clock, turn it on manually, or use a pressure tank/pressure switch as comes with a Pside-Kick constant pressure pump control kit.

You could also use a shallow well jet pump on the bank with a footvalve on the end of the suction pipe. This type pump can be controlled the same way as the submersible described above. But with a jet pump you will have to maintain prime and worry about suction leaks that are not problems with a submersible.

 

[Mendonsy]

That 600' distance presents some problems.
1) If you locate an electric pump near the the river then you have to get power to it. A 15 amp pump at that distance needs at least #2 wire because of the line drop. You also have to be concerned about what happens to that wiring during the months when you are not using the pump.
2) A gasoline powered pump will work, but you have to haul fuel to it. Most of those pumps are designed for high volumes at low pressure so they don't work well for sprinklers.
3) You will need a fairly large pipe to get the flow and pressure that you need to support sprinklers. It will probably take at least 1-1/2" poly pipe to run sprinklers.

 

[KYErik]

Ditto on what Medonsy said. Perhaps you could use a gas pump to get the water to a 1000 gallon storage tank by your home, then use an electric pump to pressurize the sprinkler lines. That way you would just run the gas pump for 10-20 min at a time (until the 1000 gallon tank was full).

 

[pmsmechanic]

How often do you need to irrigate? I would be tempted to find/build a small pto pump and just run it with one of your tractors. Use a floating intake to avoid the sand and just run the tractor slow and flood the grass/trees instead of using sprinklers. Sprinklers apply water evenly but they also use a lot of energy. Just my thoughts

 

[Gary Fowler]

I agree with PMSMechanic, flood irrigation is the way to go when using a pump from the river. Large volume of low pressure water will work well especially if you have some small slope back to the river. Just pump it to the highest point and let the surplus run back to the low end and back to the river.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Is there any concern for requiring a permit for a water withdrawl? In PA if you withdraw more than a certain amount of water in a month you have to be permitted. If you are in a rural area, Tally ho!

 

[bcp]

One place I remember flood irrigated about an acre using an old car engine powering a boat prop in a pipe. The lift was about 10 feet.

Bruce

 

[Trials]

You might try this; dig a hole a few feet back from the side of the river, see if you strike water. If you strike lots of water, sink a length of culvert into the hole and clear the inside of the culvert as much as possible, put clean crushed rock in the bottom of the culvert to keep out the inflow of silt, add a layer of clean sand and the another layer of clean crushed rock or stone. You just built a sand filter, it should be easy to pump clear water from above that.
:dance1: if you dig the hole and strike oil or gold instead of water your problems are still over.

 

[Gator6x4]

A gas pump is doable. Most pop up sprinklers work great at about 60 psi. Put a by pass gate valve in the pressure line coming from the pump. Use the valve as a pressure regulator to maintain 60 psi in the line going to you sprinkler system by diverting water in excess of the 60 psi needed in your sprinkler supply line back into the river.

Depending on the width of the river and rain flood stage of water levels a small weir placed across the river would provide a stable water depth for the suction side of the pump.