Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Getting well water to new pond

I'm new to the site and pond management. Looks like a great resource! I've been searching the site and reading the magazine but still have a question.

I've just had a 2 acre pond built and I am looking at the best way (cheapest also, I am broke after the construction costs) to get two flowing wells to the pond site. They both flow around 6 gpm. One is 500 feet from the pond and the other is approx 1000 feet.

I am hoping to tee the furthest with the closest through a wooded area. My question is..what is the smallest diameter pipe I can use. I am thinking 1" pvc. The closest well is about 3 feet higher than the furthest which is about 5 feet higher than the pond.

Do you foresee any problems with this approach? Thanks George

It will take a while to use wells to fill a couple of acres. However, I wish I had them. I would probably use 1 inch pvc. Rent a trencher like you would use for a home lawn sprinkler project. That should protect the PVC. Let them splash on something to help the oxygenation.

1" pipe should easily flow the amounts you're talking about, however, black poly (water line around here) is much cheaper and comes in 100' chunks. Menards sells it for about $15 per coil. 1" PVC is easily twice that, and glue joints can fail if not perfectly done.

If you've got one handy, a rental place might have a "vibra-plow". Doesn't actually dig a trench, but has a vibrating shank, which just drags the tubing into the ground...no backfilling. You'd just have to spade out a small hole (big enough to do your clamping) every 100 feet. Pretty sweet...


As long as you don't have to worry about freezing, 12" or so is plenty deep.

Birddogger

Respectfully, you may want to do the math on 12 gpm first.

If your 2 acre pond averages 5 ft. of depth, that would be 10 acre ft. (or) about 3,250,000 million gallons. With no evaporation, seepage or other water losses it would take about 188 days to fill.

Just a thought,

Ed

Birddogger,
I gotta step back to a fundamental. Do you have any run-off running into the pond or are you relying completely on the rain that hits it and your supplementing wells? If it is, indeed, the latter, Ed's calc for 188 days may pass quicker than feared.
Hey, PondsForFun...how many days of anxiety has it been, now? 12 gpm can start to look pretty good, given the right level of frustration. Ed's point is right on and insightful (as usual). But, ultimately, whatchagonnado? (and I thought being the last guy to get the new PB mag was gutwrenching :rolleyes: )

Thanks for the replies folks.
Brettski and Ed
I do have a fairly sizable watershed coming into the pond. The problem is we have had 6/10ths of an inch of rain since March 1. Dry as a bone...which was good for the construction but getting it filled may take forever unless we get some decent rain. I was counting on the wells for supplemental water...sure hope they don't end up as my main source.

Matt, thanks for the poly idea...I will look into it. George

My grandfather had a windmill which pumped into a concrete stock tank. When the stock tank overflowed, the water ran down hill for about 50 yards via a semi ditch into the pond. It was a neat feature, a marshy strip which always had frogs etc. This was in relatively flat country, say 5 feet of drop in the 50 yards. South Texas (Pawelekville).

Hey, Guys has anybody ever tried a a sub-soiler (3 point hookup behind a tractor) method? I put in 1000 Ft of 3/4 Black Poly pipe for my water line to my house in 15 minutes. That was the easyiest pipe I ever put in my life. The pipe goes in as fast as you are driving the tractor. The Sub-Soiler only cost me $ 110.00 If you would like more details I would be happy to provide.

Birddogger,
Moving water from a well further than 150 ft will require 2" pipe to maintain a good flow rate. This will reduce friction in the pipe as the water flows away from the pump source. Smaller pipe causes increased flow friction in the pipe. By using at lest 2" pipe, it will help you maintain constant flow/pressure out the other end into your pond. I know this only because I am having 2 wells dug on my property and have to move water 900 ft + to stock tanks. All of the well drillers/ plumbers I have spoken to say the same thing.

Jake
I found that to be true the hard way.. I used the 1 inch pipe and the resistance is preventing any meaningful flow to the pond. Looking for a workaround (would a ram pump help?) but I may need to start over with bigger pipe. George