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- This topic has 4 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 11 months ago by Robert Rickey.
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- 15 May 2014 at 1:04 pm #31869
I tried to calculate how much water I would need to sustain our veg and fruit garden in a three week drought, and it is a hell of a lot. I have looked at what size water butts we could reasonably live with. Then I researched the idea of storing the water in the ground! We have raised beds on a sloping site, so waterlogging should not be a problem.
Here is the idea:
1. Install 400 liter water butts
2. Fill the butts
3. Take the overflow into a “big pipe” – 100mm? underground to little standpipes at the ends of the beds
4. Connect leaky pipes to the uphill side of the beds
5. Install a shutoff to the irrigation in case of really wet weather – overflow goes to storm drain.I have a poor understanding of hydraulics, so I have no idea if this will work. The fall to the top bed is about 750mm and to the bottom 1500mm. There's a lot of materials and digging to find out experimentally. See attached drawings for more information about what is involved.
Any advice or reference works welcome!
- 15 May 2014 at 1:59 pm #39144
I have 2 x 2000 litre ex-orange juice barrels (4 tonnes of rainwater) up the slope, providing 4-6m head to leaky pipes in 6.7 x 3m polytunnel. Lasts about a week in dry summer! Ordinary leaky pipes need more pressure than that, so am looking for lo pressure replacements, and tripling the storage.
- 15 May 2014 at 2:01 pm #39145
Where can I find extra ordinary leaky pipes, then? Garden hose and a hand drill?
- 16 May 2014 at 4:27 pm #39146
Going to consult online leaky pipe specialists – any day now! Tell me what you find out?
- 21 May 2014 at 7:18 am #39147
The main difference in our schemes is that I want the 4000 liters stored in the ground. I have no idea if the rainfall patterns support this – the above ground store would be used lightly and in emergency only. I may pay you a visit since I'm just in Crediton!
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