The Aquaduct: Storing and Moving Water on the Homestead ~ Building an Irrigation system with Homestead Rescue
~WATER~
We all need it, and it is arguably the most important factor of success on the homestead. It’s worth focusing on a whole lot!
When we started off we carried buckets of water from roof rain catchment. Then we got a well and hand pumped water (about 1 gal every 3 min) into buckets and carried them around.
In May, the Raney family came out with Discovery Channel’s Homestead Rescue and they hooked us up with an aquaduct, storage tanks, and a solar powered well pump!
Fast water!
Here’s a post detailing the system they set with us, what we like about it, and what we will likely change or create in the future.
The first step was getting a solar powered well pump installed in our existing well. We had been using the Simple Pump. Once that was installed, it was hooked up to a charge controller and two 12 v batteries that were hooked up to a solar panel.
After that, Misty rolled over the 305 gallon water tank.
Gravity & Water Pressure
We built a tower out of cedar from the land to raise the water tank off the ground. We put our well up on the highest point in the property so we were already playing on the right side of gravity. We raised the tank up further to increase the water pressure as this system only flows on gravity fed pressure.
Next we got some very long and uniform cedars and cut a trough in it to act as the water channel.
After that, we built supports for the cedar aqueduct and, with the help of some friends of mine who came over, raised it up and attached it to the cedar tower holding the water tank!
We tested running some water through it and then hooked it up to another tank.
So now we have over 500 gallons of stored water on the land!
From the second tank, we hooked up some irrigation lines and took it out to the garden to drip irrigate.
I love this picture above because it details the evolution of water on our land. There is the recent addition of the tanks and drip irrigation, the hand pump to draw water out of our 55 gal water catchment bins, the white sprayer that I have watered countless seedlings with and 5 gallon buckets and watering cans, which we our original waterers. It's pretty amazing to see how far we have come.
Would we have created this system? No! Hah!
I look at it like a fun art piece on the land. It would have been a lot easier to set up some PVC underground and run water to drop irrigation that way! But now we have a cedar aqueduct and a fun story! It is quite inefficient, but it is cool to sit next to it while water is running through it and hear the trickle. It takes about 5 hours to flow from the big tank through the aqueduct to totally fill the white one, so one must pay attention when filling (we have forgotten we opened it and it has overflowed a few times!).
In the future we want to build a ferro cement cistern dug into the ground. It is awesome, however, knowing our water is pumped from deep in the earth using the sun's energy!
Wow! That is so cool! I agree-- it looks like a piece of artwork. Thanks for sharing.
While inefficient, it is quite interesting.
I would not have even considered a wooden aqua duct.
Me neither! But in line with their ethic of taking materials that are on hand- it really makes sense. It’s cool to have around for sure!
I never have seen a wooden aqua duct either! No doubt will see it reappear tho, now that fame has hit! ;)
I see abundant plant life coming from your gardens! Congrats on WATER! Good work at prioritizing something that seems common sense. Sometimes it is these things that matter the most.
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does the wooden aquaduct ever start sprouting life again?
Well there is some algae on the top, and of course wherever it spills makes happy plants.
I meant the picture where the heartwood of the cedar is quite rosy colored. I was wondering if the cedar sprouts again? Probably not the best thing to happen, so good!
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I love homestead rescue!
Does that mean you get cedar smelling bathwater?
This was my favorite part! The log aquaduct was not something I would have ever thought of. While inefficient, it does appear to get the job done. At least caring for your plants isn't a tedious, back breaking chore any more.
Thanks for the extra peek behind the scenes and the update on the pros & cons.