blairshill
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Water SupplyWe have about 5 acres of land at the top of a hill and on surrounding fields there are a few water springs. We have a large brick tank about 6ft x 8ft and 6ft deep underground. We can not see any inlet to it and we opened it at the weekend after it being sealed for about 30 years and there was only a few inches of water in it. The land is about 1 mile from our house and has no mains supply, the nearest house is about 400 metres away.
We are just getting our first livestock and need to organise water for them. Can anyone offer help or advice what is the best way to proceed? Thanks.
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gz
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Any Downsizer Dowsers out there?
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MSASTLES
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I would make sure the tank will actually hold water. Then if you can find the inlet pipe, which is most likely attached to some type of land drain array that goes to your springs. This if you are lucky might just need cleaning. If not it would be a matter of renewing the collector pipes to bring your water into the tank. Then you would need something to make the water available to your animals. We use a simple 12 volt pump with a battery and a solar panel.
Cheers MS
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James
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Blairshill, I’d like to get a bit more information please:
1) do you know what the brick chamber was previously used for? It may have been a spring water storage chamber, or it might have been a septic tank…
2) Do you know the relative elevation of the chamber to your springs and to your house?
3) Do you know how much water you expect to use per day?
4) Do you know if the brick chamber is water proof?
A spring is normally captured by digging down into the ground and filling this large, wet hole with course gravel. Then in the middle of the hole, you put a small chamber (called a catch pit)- I’ve seen all sorts used including cool-boxes with the base cut out and fridges with holes drilled in them. The top of the chamber sits slightly above ground level and is covered . This chamber fills with water. A pipe is installed near (but not at..) the base of this chamber. this pipe usually exits the catch pit below ground level. The pipe then runs downhill to your second, larger storage chamber. This chamber should be sized to allow the best part of a full days use of water, and should be far enough above your property to provide a good head of water (this creates the pressure in your taps). The second chamber should have a baffle on the inlet to knock out any suspended particles.
You’ll need to make sure the spring water is safe to drink.
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blairshill
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Thanks for your replies. Some more info. According to the chap we bought the land from this tank was used to store water for their livestock. It certainly looks watertight but has not been filled for approx 30 years it is clean inside and doesn't smell foul .There isn't a property nearby and I am sure it has never been a septic tank. We do not live on the holding and we require water only for livestock to drink so probably no more than 10 to 20 gallons per day. we cannot find any source of water the two springs we have found are not on our property.
The options we have thought of so far are getting a tanker of water to deliver and fill tank and fitting a tap to an outlet.or Finding someone who would be able to locate a water source and could offer us the advice to utilise it. If anyone has other ideas or can help with my own suggestions I would be delighted to hear from them. Thanks again
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Rob R
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Does the nearest house have mains water?
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Crookham Farm
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If you are going to put up any sort of structure you could harvest the rainwater from the roof. our neighbours do that for their sheep and horses.
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James
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so you have no springs on your land? not even a damp patch of sedge grass that used to be a spring (they can clog up with time)
How did the bloke who used to use it get water to it?
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Tavascarow
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A cheaper option might be to have a towable bowser & take water to your livestock from home?
A steel caged plastic cubic metre tank doesn't cost the earth.
Put on a suitable trailer.
If you do a search on flea-bay there are lots of them there.
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Brownbear
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I make water bowser trailers for quads (or other vehicles) to tow - a basic frame chassis with a caged water tank on it, with an outlet that can be plumbed in to a ballcock-controlled drinking trough.
I can also just supply the frame trailer if you have your own tank.
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