# Shallow Well/ Cistern Design Help



## hillbilly1 (Dec 23, 2008)

I have a good wet spot about 50 yds. from the cabin. My current water is froma creek 1/4 mile or so. I'm thinking about digging out a hole as deep as I can (probably 3-4 feet). Then sink a piece of 18" plastic driveway pipe on its end and fill up around the outside with some gravel. I'd make some kind of lid probably from an old road sign. The water that seeps in should give me a decent supply of halfway clean unpotable water. The area only dries out about one month a year during the summer drought. Iv'e been off the grid for about 6 years now and the area is only accessible by foot. 

Will this work? Should I change my design? Comments?


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## tommu56 (Sep 19, 2010)

What kind of soil / ground do you have?

That will determine how to proceed.

Ive jetted piles in sand down 20 ft no big deal.

Take that to my cabin 6" of dirt 2100 ft of shale you ain't going far there.

If you are gong to go that small of a pit look at a sump pump pit thy have good lids too.

My old cabin was on a spring's we used 5 of the sump pump pits tied together with 4" pipe to a 1 1/2 poly pipe down the mountain a little to a new 275 oil tank then 3/4 poly pipe to cabin. 

What about catching rain water (I do for my toilet) because my well (450 ft deep) only produces 20 gallons a day yes that is per day.
We pump the well all the time to a 1250 gallon tank in the ground and pump from their in to cabin as needed from there.

Rain water is stored in non freezing weather in IBOC totes pumped up to a supply tank ≈ 55 gallons on second floor then to toilet via gravity.
All this is off grid 

tom


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## nj_m715 (Oct 31, 2008)

It could work, but can you drive a pipe into the ground or is it to rocky. I think even a few feet down would be better than catching run off water. It should be cleaner. I put in my own 25' well and I use a rain fed "water tower" and conventional rain barrels to off set my water usage during the warmer months. It's all home made cobbled together stuff and I've very happy how it's working. 
I've posted it on here before and all the details are on my blog.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

The people who live behind us had a "seep" spring that didn't bubble out of the ground but kept the soil saturated. They dug a hole a few feet deep and it filled with water. The sides would keep sliding down over time, so they dug the hole about 6' deep and stood a 3' diameter section of glavanized metal culvert upright in the hole. The top is a couple feet above the ground, and they have a piece of plywood over it. They have a sump pump in there hooked to a hose that runs a couple hundred yards up to their house. That's their primary water source. They run it through a reverse-osmosis filter for drinking, and use it the way it is for everything else. They pump the water into a storage tank periodically to build up a supply of it so they can do laundry or take showers.


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## hillbilly1 (Dec 23, 2008)

Sounds like a go then. Too many tree/leaf problems with rainwater here. Gonna give it a try since the weather is good. Will be handy to have water source closer by.


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## tommu56 (Sep 19, 2010)

hillbilly1 said:


> Sounds like a go then. Too many tree/leaf problems with rainwater here. Gonna give it a try since the weather is good. Will be handy to have water source closer by.


I got trees all over my place and put the plastic -S- shaped leaf guards on the gutters they work. Heavy rains do over shoot the slot in the S but for us that isn't a problem.

tom


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