Excavating a spring - any advice?

[Mostyn11]

Hello everyone, I'm looking at some land that has a spring which I would like to tap for use on a smallholding. I would look to dig out a catchment pool and lay a gravity-fed pipe into a water tank. First of all, would I need to obtain planning or Environmental Agency permission for this job? I'd also appreciate any other observations or comments that might help when selecting/instructing a contractor to carry out the excavation (I imagine a mini-digger could handle this?) Many thanks!

 

[Sid]

JFDI

Drained field on away block.
Concrete rings fed by land drains.
32mm pipe in bottom feed by gravity to a water trough for cattle drinking.
Only issue is get the odd amphibian head diving into ball valve and blocking it.

 

[Bald Rick]

Get a potable water analysis done before you spend any further money. Might be rammed full of lead, arsenic, copper or any other nasty

 

[Mostyn11]

Thanks for the quick response guys! @Sid: Useful advice - thank you! @Bald Rick: yes, this would be an important first step, before investing - thank you!

 

[Goweresque]

Only issue is get the odd amphibian head diving into ball valve and blocking it.

Taa-daa!

I have this in the header tank of my spring fed system because I was fed up of having to clear blockages that usually ended up being dead frogs To prevent anything going into the holes in the vertical section I pulled one leg of an old pair of tights over the top No dead frogs since

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I would dig it out to find the exact point it rises from the earth . Then pipe it away and see if it still runs in very dry weather , also the point about testing . You will need to do that if you are using it for yourself,
Not sure about the field drain bit though. If your using water from field drains you have no control of the quality off as its collecting surface water as well

 

[Sid]

I would dig it out to find the exact point it rises from the earth . Then pipe it away and see if it still runs in very dry weather , also the point about testing . You will need to do that if you are using it for yourself,
Not sure about the field drain bit though. If your using water from field drains you have no control of the quality off as its collecting surface water as well

Does percolating through 10ft of clay count as filtering?

How can you control the quality of spring water that has perculated from who knows where?

Same difference isn't it?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Does percolating through 10ft of clay count as filtering?

How can you control the quality of spring water that has perculated from who knows where?

Same difference isn't it?

Yes Sid can be , in your case your Organic, but some fields drains 3 to 4 ft and spraying with all sorts,of nasty things and spreading slurry on top .
Far safer with a spring i would have thought .
But no guarantee I do agree, when we moved to Wales we had water from a Well, run dry one Morning so dad went for a look, was five dead rats in the bottom , went straight on to mains, [emoji846]

 

[Exfarmer]

I would try and tap into the source just above the spring. Dig a well and cap it. If you have open water, you will get no end of issues, including rats!

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Get a potable water analysis done before you spend any further money. Might be rammed full of lead, arsenic, copper or any other nasty

we had ours done by these, they were in Cross Hands, Llanelli, but I think they have moved the lab now

Minton Treharne & Davies - Scientific Consultancy, Surveying, Analysis & Testing

MTD - Minton Treharne & Davies provide superior independent scientific, consultancy, surveying, testing and training services to a worldwide client base.

www.minton.group

 

[Ffermer Bach]

I was told the way to do it is to dig down to the spring then put drainage stone with a "snail shape" of drainage pipe leading off through water pipe to a holding tank, above the coil of drainage pipe put more drainage stone, then cap all with clay, then a bit of silage plastic and then fill in the hole with the soil dug out, may be worth getting someone to divine where the best place for the spring is too.

 

[Yale]

Excavate it out,clean stone clippings in the bottom then drop a perforated concrete ring in like this.

Depending on depth put solid rings above then a concrete biscuit on top with a man hole cover.

Back fill around the rings with good clean stone,perhaps membrane layer then either clay or soil to finish.

The holes in the bottom ring will allow you to put a supply pipe in with a filter.

 

[dudders]

You won't need an abstraction licence if you're taking out less than 20 cu.m. per day, although there might be authorisation needed if you're in an SSSI or other protected zone. Similarly, you won't need a licence to impound water in this way if it doesn't affect anybody else's supply, or water levels generally. This is the relevant .gov page: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/water-management-abstract-or-impound-water.

If you can do it cheaply, then it should be worthwhile. But balance the costs against connecting to the mains and having a more reliable supply. Unless your ground is naturally wet, or the water table is naturally high over a large catchment area, it will possibly dry up in summer - just when you need it most. So you might have to connect to the mains anyway!

I've connected all my gutters here to big storage tanks and have never yet run out of water for stock and yard purposes, but I won't get my costs back for probably 20 years. The cost of water is likely to increase above inflation though, so your spending on this project will be a good investment - eventually.

 

[Mostyn11]

Thank you everyone for all your responses - loads of helpful input here. I‘ve got a much better idea of the different approaches and I can see that the additional cost in a capped solution pays dividends by avoiding rats and other Issues down the line. I’m going to test the water first (thank you @Ffermer Bach for the lab recommendation - Cardiff is handy, as the land is in Pembrokeshire) and then get some quotes from contractors see what I can afford (not a huge budget unfortunately as I’m starting a smallholding from scratch! But anyway, I’ve got a sense of direction after reviewing these comments - thanks again everyone for your help!

 

[Ffermer Bach]

had a bore hole put in by http://www.teifiwells.co.uk/
it has been really good, and there have been grants recently to put them in, not sure if there still are?