How are farm reservoirs filled?

[Pilatus]

I am interested to know how farm reservoirs are filled. Do you use bore hole water,river water,dyke water etc?
I only ask as with the drier than average summer ,autumn,winter so far ,I was wondering if that was causing major problems for filling farm reservoirs.

 

[Princess Pooper]

Many are rainfall and / or abstraction by licence from rivers, but some rivers have to be at a certain level to allow that, I know someone in Norfolk who was saying they are not allowed to fill theirs at present.

 

[Andrew K]

Many are rainfall and / or abstraction by licence from rivers, but some rivers have to be at a certain level to allow that, I know someone in Norfolk who was saying they are not allowed to fill theirs at present.

Cheapest way of filling is by land drains, most expensive by pumping in.

 

[farmerm]

Cheapest way of filling is by land drains, most expensive by pumping in.

correction "Cheapest way of filling is by land drains, most expensive by pumping mains water in"

 

[Andrew K]

correction "Cheapest way of filling is by land drains, most expensive by pumping mains water in"

Ha Ha, never resorted to that.... yet.

 

[Dry Rot]

An even cheaper way is to dig your reservoir so it is below the water table.

We were intending to put in some duck flghting ponds and started looking at expensive plastic liners. Our contractor who had put in many ponds for the RSPB advised just digging a hole below the water table and letting hem fill up naturally. "I've never had to lin a pond", was what he said. We did redirected a few field drains but mostly they are filled by being below the water table.

 

[Brisel]

An even cheaper way is to dig your reservoir so it is below the water table.

We were intending to put in some duck flghting ponds and started looking at expensive plastic liners. Our contractor who had put in many ponds for the RSPB advised just digging a hole below the water table and letting hem fill up naturally. "I've never had to lin a pond", was what he said. We did redirected a few field drains but mostly they are filled by being below the water table.

Great until the water table drops which is when you need it most. I managed a farm where they did just that. The ponds were on a 200 acre sand patch 20 yards from an IDB managed drain where the IDB left the level high in summer for irrigation. The level never dropped much at that time of year but the irrigator pump would drain it in half a day. Full again the following morning.

 

[Dry Rot]

Great until the water table drops which is when you need it most. I managed a farm where they did just that. The ponds were on a 200 acre sand patch 20 yards from an IDB managed drain where the IDB left the level high in summer for irrigation. The level never dropped much at that time of year but the irrigator pump would drain it in half a day. Full again the following morning.

Sounds as if it needs to be deeper! We got a consultant in at another place. He had been in charge of building reservoirs in several third world countries. Again, he did not approve of artificial liners and, if needed, he advised that there would likely be something suitable locally. He was right, on one site we used peat. On another, clay.

 

[Princess Pooper]

An even cheaper way is to dig your reservoir so it is below the water table.

We were intending to put in some duck flghting ponds and started looking at expensive plastic liners. Our contractor who had put in many ponds for the RSPB advised just digging a hole below the water table and letting hem fill up naturally. "I've never had to lin a pond", was what he said. We did redirected a few field drains but mostly they are filled by being below the water table.

he's obviously never dug a pond near the Wash (below sea level at high tide) as it fills up with saline water - not good for irrigation!!!!