When I was a little girl we used to go visit my great-grandfather, Harry, on his farm in Trout Valley. We would carry buckets from the fresh water spring that bubbled out of the base of the bluff to the house for drinking and cooking.
My grandmother Marge however, would tell us of a time, when she was a young girl, on the farm when the boom of the ram water pump would lull her to sleep. A time when there was no need to carry water and the spring was fenced off from the cows. Remember – if clean water is not available, use a water filter to protect against pathogens and other contaminants.
Hydraulic ram water pumps have been used for at least two hundred years to deliver water to homes, farms and even small towns bordered by small creeks or rivers.
In 1879, The People’s Cyclopedia included the hydraulic ram among the 55 most important inventions in the history of mankind. It defined the hydraulic ram as: “A simple and conveniently applied mechanism by which the weight of falling water can be made available for raising a portion of itself to a considerable height.
Generally, you need at least two feet of falling water to operate a ram pump. Most creeks and small rivers you would have access to on the homestead do not have a natural two foot drop. The spring on Harry’s farm gently meandered down to feed a larger creek.
When Harry was a young, successful farmer however, he created a two foot drop by building up the small stream of water with rocks and mortar which created a natural pool at the base in which to sit the ram pump. Metal water lines ran a continuous stream of water to the summer kitchen of the house and to the stock tank that overflowed and created its own stream back to the stream below the pump. There was always ample water for the house, stock, and to irrigate crops if need be.
A quick and fairly easy way to create a pond/waterfall that I have used is to fall a fairly large tree across the creek and cut a V in it with a chainsaw. Instant waterfall! Silt and rocks will build up behind the log and the V focuses the water into one spot where you can put your ram pump. Or if you don’t want to pump water, just create an area where you can dip water, bathe, wash clothes, etc. the force of the water will carve out a small pond that will usually stay open even in traditional Minnesota winters. And on a hot summer day, it is a little piece of heaven to sit on the log, dangle your feet in the water and watch the kids play in the pond, jump across the V in the log and just laugh and play in the sunshine and clear water.
A solar water pump is an option if you don’t have the drop to create a narrow falls and have more money and a significant amount of sun. Any time you can get the water closer to the house, stock and garden, life becomes so much easier! This is the same principle as any electric pump, except that the power is supplied by the sun. If you pump the water into 50 gallon rain barrels and water the individual plants at their roots the water will last a lot longer than traditional overhead watering.
For more information about ram and solar pumps, a good site to access is: http://www.theramcompany.com/
If you have water on your land, it probably slopes. Thoughtful placement of your garden, stock pens and home can make water access as simple as a gravity feed. Create a “mouth” in the creek of PVC or some such attached to inexpensive plastic water line and you have instant water! At least until it freezes. :)
And then there is snow… also known as poor man’s fertilizer. It too can be thawed to create water for cooking, dishes and even bathing. Just so you know, the ratio is about 10 inches of snow to 1 inch of water—that is a lot of melted snow. But you do what you gotta do J and just be grateful that you have the heat to melt it with!
Water is a critical piece of the self-sufficient equation. If you haven’t thoroughly organized your water security plan, it’s time to do so now.
This post was originally published at ModernSurvivalOnline.com.