Can I turn a very slow, very muddy seep into a spring?

[Terri]

The soil appears to be sandy clay, and the flow is only about 1 gallon every 10 minutes. The water does not actually GO any where, but I dug a hole and bailed it out, and that is about the refill time.

When I tried to dig it out before the hole filled in with very fine clay. There is no one point the water comes out: it is a wettish spot about 6 feet across. There is no rock layer that the water comes under that I can see: it is just a wet spot on a hillside.

A little clear pool would be lovely, but, the clay fills in eveything. If there was even a LITTLE flow the clay might be carried off, but the water just sort of sits at that spot.

Any ideas?

[fatrat]

Are you sure it is ground water/a spring? Could this be surface water draining out the side of the hill? The fact that there is almost no flow and it is so silty makes me wonder. It does not sound like a spring to me or if it is, the spring may be burried deep. However it sounds more like surface water draining out the side of the hill.

[Terri]

This has occured to me also, but the hillside above the seep is dry?

[agmantoo]

This is the best article that I have read on the subject
http://www.acresusa.com/toolbox/repr...n%20Method.pdf

[HillsideWayCSA]

As I've come to notice over the last couple of years is that wet spot is just where your run off pops out of the ground. My foothill property becomes waterfront in the winter and spring. I dig trenches just to try to control how much water sits and to keep the pastures from turning into swampy mush. Now if only I could legally convert it to a holding tank. It'd be more than enough to water my garden all year.

[Forerunner]

I had a very similar situation, dug down under and around it to get to virgin earth, laid in gravel to about a foot below the original water level, then a stainless sand point on the end of a pipe that now sticks out of the ground about two feet, horizontally. Then I filled over that with more rock, then heavy layers of cardboard, then lots of straw, then earth.

That was 1998 or 99 and it has never quit running since.
That is our drinking water source.

Given your brief description, I doubt it sources from surface water, but we may not have all the relevant details.

[Terri]

What a wonderfull site that is! I earmarked it in case I have time to mess with it this summer. It says to dig in the dry season, and the surface of the ground does not dry up until late summer.

The wells in that area are very shallow, and they produce a very low flow of poor quality water. (Most people use cisterns or city water). I was actually thinking of doing something ornamental with the water: A tiny pond surrounded with Louisiana iris, for instance. I was raised in an arid area, and I think that any water-even ornamental water- is a treasure waiting to be used and enjoyed.

[roachhill]

Around here a lot of houses are fed by the kind of slow seeps you described. That's what my spring is like as was my Great Grandparents. As long as it flows steady it can keep a cistern filled. Just make sure it's not seasonal.

[Cabin Fever]

Similar to Agmantoo's link and Forerunner's discription, I would dig a trench, line the trench with geotextile "filter fabric," then envelope a slotted pipe with pea gravel within the trench, and finally wrap the filter fabric back over the top of the trench. The pipe would lead to a stilling pool or tank located downslope.

Imagine a septic tank and drainfield trench...but only operating in reverse.

[blooba]

Originally Posted by Cabin Fever

Imagine a septic tank and drainfield trench...but only operating in reverse.

Make sure its not coming from your septic drainfield .......lol

[Wis Bang 2]

Our cabin in the Poconos uses a spring seep. In the spring there are several spots that weep. My grandfather picked one closest to the cabin and dug down around two feet by three feet around and left a low spot as an overflow. We have laid flagstone around the circle and hand dip buckets for camp use. My father used to work for our town and he would bring samples home for testing. Now we bring bottled water and use the spring water for coffee, cooking and dishwashing. Some dry summer months will cause it to dry up but it is usually flowing for spring gobbler and deer seasons...

[fishhead]

I don't think I would let the water escape if you divert it into a pool. Water is too precious just to let if flow away and that water may be recharging the aquifer below.

[ronbre]

we did here, we have a 75 x 150 pond now ..we removed the topsoild and sand and some of the clay..the clay here is 8 to 10 feet deep or deeper..with sand and topsoil on top..it keeps water in the deeper areas but the shallower areas dry out when we have drought time in the mid to late summer.

which is fine.

we hope someday to have a fresh water input well pipe..but right now it is as it is..

used a back hoe to remove the materials and that was easy

[John_Yurich]

I've got the same thing going on with land I bought last year. I noticed the pond keeps overflowing even during dry times. Recently I gandered from my pond at the neighbor's property which goes uphill, and discovered what looks like a small ditch coming down the hill, which levels off as is gets to my side of the property, where the ground is then wet near the edge of the pond at the spot that is overflowing.

I dug some holes and water was about 6-12 inches down. I can scoop it out but it keeps filling back up. It doesn't come to the surface though. However, by looking at the ditch it appears that sometimes water comes to the surface uphill somewhere. So, I'm guessing that's why the pond was put in that spot.

Now, if that water turns out to be reliable I'd like to capture it. The problem is that I need the water uphill. Should I make a spring box then throw a pump in it? It'd have to be solar since there's no electricity.

Thanks.

[Forerunner]

Originally Posted by John_Yurich

I've got the same thing going on with land I bought last year. I noticed the pond keeps overflowing even during dry times. Recently I gandered from my pond at the neighbor's property which goes uphill, and discovered what looks like a small ditch coming down the hill, which levels off as is gets to my side of the property, where the ground is then wet near the edge of the pond at the spot that is overflowing.

I dug some holes and water was about 6-12 inches down. I can scoop it out but it keeps filling back up. It doesn't come to the surface though. However, by looking at the ditch it appears that sometimes water comes to the surface uphill somewhere. So, I'm guessing that's why the pond was put in that spot.

Now, if that water turns out to be reliable I'd like to capture it. The problem is that I need the water uphill. Should I make a spring box then throw a pump in it? It'd have to be solar since there's no electricity.

Thanks.

I would sink a concrete tank, like the septic tank (new ) mentioned.
I would also (maybe first thing) go onto the neighbor and ask to see where the source of that water was located and what might be influencing/contaminating it.

[tinknal]

I'm wondering if you could drive a sand point horizontally into the hillside. You could maybe install a shut off valve and an air fitting so that you could occasionally blow the crud back out of the sand point.

[Forerunner]

Sand point is what I used, but I wanted it nestled in round gravel to facilitate a precleaning as well as a reservoir. Gives the crud a place to blow out and settle away from the point screen when you do put the compressed air to it.

[Wis Bang 2]

You can see the different soil at the bottom of our spring hole. The black, loamy forest soil stops and a grey layer makes the bottom. You can see the water flow from the uphill side into the bottom and the overflow keeps the water clean 'cept for falling leaves.

Next dry spell you could dig a test hole and examine how it fills and so forth. Then you can decide if it is able to be developed. Our place is a limestone rich forest and the outflow disapears within 20 feet of leaving the spring hole. There is a stream nearby and across the road is another spring that used to be the water supply for a farmstead...your conditions may be different. Worst case is you dug a hole and filled it in.

[Terri]

Originally Posted by Forerunner

I would also (maybe first thing) go onto the neighbor and ask to see where the source of that water was located and what might be influencing/contaminating it.

Yeah.

Uphill of my little seep is a medium-sized field of soybeans. I have already decided that I will not be drinking the water, though a pond and ornamentals would be good.

I suppose that I could have the water tested, but, for planning purposes I will assume the water is not for drinking.

I have heard that a ram pump wil send the water uphill, though these seeps might not produce enough water to make them run.

[NCLee]

Originally Posted by agmantoo

This is the best article that I have read on the subject
http://www.acresusa.com/toolbox/repr...n%20Method.pdf

Thanks for the link. I just downloaded it and saved for printing. Looks like it has some great advice.

Lee