# Finding a natural spring



## lisat

How do you find a natural spring beside seeing the water, more green vegetation or dampness on the ground? Are they rare? I have heard that there are underground caves in our area and it is very rocky.


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## solaceofwinter

Id love to know as well. i believe to have one on my property has one. no clue how to find it or make any use of it.


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## flatwater

I look for veggetation that is very tall and healthier then the plants around it. or what type of trees are around in combination with the above. aspins are a good sign , the more the better. Sometimes willows and ceder work also. On a side hill look for sepiege. You can dig a whole with a shovel or posthole digger or even a power augar. I douse also which gives me a better idea of where the water is and the direction of the flow. If your real sure where there is water then use a backhoe.
flatwater


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## jams002

i want to know that how to find an natural spring water in one place?!

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## jams002

i want to know that how to find an natural spring water in one place?!

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## skip

Elderberries are another sure sign that water is not very deep.


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## lisat

This is too funny. After posting this I followed our sometimes dry creek bed up the small mountain behind our house looking for a spring. There is always water trickling somewhere and mountain isn't big enough to have runoff all the time. Someone many years ago built this rock waterfall and at the base of it there appears to be a natural spring bubbling out of the ground! I cleared around it and don't find a source. It is dry everywhere around it. I followed up above the waterfall to see if I could find someplace else the water could be coming from and don't see anything.
Someone put PVC pipe at the water source and ran it all the way down into a huge concrete cistern. I can hear it trickling in there. It has a metal roof over it. It is then piped from the other side down the mountain to the back of our property where the pipe is capped. I took it off and it is trickling into the creek bed again. I am guessing the cap is to fill the cistern and then you could use it for watering your back property where there is no plumbing.

I found the reason for this elaborate set up. There are remains of a still nearby. I found 2 furnaces and remains of a bunker type hole in side of mountain. There are rusting barrels laying around. We had been told there was an old still on our property.
Is this water safe to boil and drink? Or would I need to get water at source in ground? It is bubbling up out of the ground. I can take pictures if it would help.


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## The_Blob

you could always have samples tested, I don't think it's expensive

we have several springs in the area, none on my actual property though, & the water is very very good


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## lisat

Good idea I will have it tested. I wonder since it passes through the cistern and then all that PVC to my yard may have mildew in it. Maybe throw some bleach in there. It ends up in our pond that is stocked with fish.


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## mongoose

Try looking in the paper for ads that says 'land with a natural spring' or just go walking around when it's really dry


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## DragonTails

Couldn't you do water witching for a natural spring or would the underground part mess you up?


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## Viking

skip said:


> Elderberries are another sure sign that water is not very deep.


 That's one of the indicators here in Oregon as well as ferns, horsetail and willow being in abundance and being very green.


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## Homestead Gal

I agree with Flatwater, look for vegetation that is getting or needs a steady water supply to flourish. It is actually easier to find water during a dry spell as the vegetation getting steady water will look better then those in the vicinity. This is how I found a hidden spring on our property. 

As a teenager, my grandmother (a fine mountain woman who routinely shot a squirrel for breakfast) showed me to use a long, hard sharp stick to find water. We looked for bushes and trees that looked much better then those around them and then stared pushing a sharpened,long,slim, hardwood stick straight into the ground around these plants/trees. The deeper and easier it is to push the stick down, the closer we were to the water source.

When we bought our wild acreage it did not have a spring (or so we were told). I noticed a line of maples and oaks that were much bigger then those a short distance away. I remembered my Grandma's water lesson and found a stick, got a point on it and started slowly poking my way up close to the base of a huge red oak. I then started working a circle outward from where my stick went in the deepest (over 12 inches) into the soil. I marked the area with rocks so I could find it when we rented the equipment to start excavation on our property.

With a small backhoe, we dug a 3 foot hole under the marked area. Almost immediately the sides of the hole began to get wet and the hole slowly started to fill with water. We hit a wet spring that has yet to dry up.Since then we have dug the hole a bit wider and deeper and plan to use it as an alternative water source. The water flow isn't fast (1 gal. in 6 min.) but over a 24 hour period you have 144 gal. of water. Plenty for us, the garden and animals if we need it. We still don't have a spring according the county...what they don't know won't hurt us! :2thumb:


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## allen_idaho

Around here, the best thing to look for is a depression in the soil with very thick vegetation growing over it. 

In my neck of the woods the ground soil is composted mostly of clay and loam above the bedrock. And a natural spring usually causes this indentation. There is one in the pasture next to mine which is sometimes strong enough to seep to the surface creating a small swamp. But most of the time you can't see it.


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## Redbone15367

can any one tell if these are springs? They showed up after heavy rain and not gone away. The root holes have drained. They did have plants growing in them that where greener and not any where else.


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## flatwater

How long will it stay wet like that? Any hills around that spot?


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## Redbone15367

@ Flatwater We are on top of a hill... and the land is pretty flat.. went and checked them yesterday.. still had about 6-8 inches of water in them... its been like that for 3-4 weeks now...


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## carlnet

Sounds like you might have a seep or two. Just dig a hole and see if it fills up with water. If it stays full keep it clean and enjoy the free water. If when you start digging you run into to a shelf of rock you may just have a place that does not drain. If that is the case you can create a shallow pond and grow lots of wild edibles and crayfish in it.


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## NaeKid

I found a great writeup about tapping into a spring to make it usable: Gravity Water

Let me know if the link (and the related links on that page) help you at all :wave:


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## Redbone15367

@ NaeKid thanks for the information.. It was very informative.. We are already on well water, but would like to turn that spring area into a large pond for livestock, and wildlife..


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## questor

lisat said:


> This is too funny. After posting this I followed our sometimes dry creek bed up the small mountain behind our house looking for a spring. There is always water trickling somewhere and mountain isn't big enough to have runoff all the time. Someone many years ago built this rock waterfall and at the base of it there appears to be a natural spring bubbling out of the ground! I cleared around it and don't find a source. It is dry everywhere around it. I followed up above the waterfall to see if I could find someplace else the water could be coming from and don't see anything.
> Someone put PVC pipe at the water source and ran it all the way down into a huge concrete cistern. I can hear it trickling in there. It has a metal roof over it. It is then piped from the other side down the mountain to the back of our property where the pipe is capped. I took it off and it is trickling into the creek bed again. I am guessing the cap is to fill the cistern and then you could use it for watering your back property where there is no plumbing.
> 
> I found the reason for this elaborate set up. There are remains of a still nearby. I found 2 furnaces and remains of a bunker type hole in side of mountain. There are rusting barrels laying around. We had been told there was an old still on our property.
> Is this water safe to boil and drink? Or would I need to get water at source in ground? It is bubbling up out of the ground. I can take pictures if it would help.


this set up sounds real familiar . . . .
what part of the country are you in?


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## kappydell

If you have the luxury of time, watch the local wildlife. They gotta drink somewhere!


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