I live next to water meadows which flood up to about 1 metre deep 2-3 times a year. In dry weather I estimate if I dig a hole at the bottom of my garden I will hit water at about 600 mm down.
It seems like a good resource for watering my garden if we get a hosepipe ban.
Has anybody got any experience of this, and what flow I might get?
Depends on hole depth, hole diameter, sub soil, soil water content, etc.. If a proper well, the hole should go deep enough so that the well won't be contaminated by ground water containing bugs. Probably not a concern if it's just for the garden.
As suggested, if the water is really that shallow, test it and see. If you do decide to dig a well make sure that you take appropriate safety precautions, collapsing excavations kill people every year... You could do worse than invest in a guide to handdug wells ie -
'B. Watt and W. E. Wood Hand Dug Wells and their Construction This definitive work provides step-by-step guidance in the techniques of digging and constructing a well, including the principles of groundwater storage, the actual construction, the materials required, and details of additional sources of information.254pp'
I dug one next to a largish lined pond in what was once a *Cress* ditch. I guess the bottom is about 1m below current river level and roughly 20m distant. The *soil* is chalky gravel and probably ex-river bed.
The hole is about 600mm dia. and the sides lined with expanded galvanised metal (because I had some).
Winter flow rate is more than my submersible pump can handle, probably
6gpm at that head. A recent test (purely in the interests of the acquisition of scientific knowledge, your honour) gave about 2gpm. There is no adjustment on my pump but flow control can be achieved by obstructing the output pipe.
Water tables are funny things. You may find the ground dry well below river water level. Something about river beds being relatively waterproof?
I have a story about *floating* pond liners if anyone is interested.
All depends what you use the water for , just watering your plants then thier will be no issue , other domestic use you may need a licence however you will need to get the water checked if you intend using it in the home
No! I believe you do need a licence to extract groundwater (maybe above a certain quantity?) but ICBW!
"The Environment Agency has a duty to secure the proper use of water resources in England and Wales. We monitor water in the environment and issue 'abstraction licences' to regulate who can take water from the environment and how much they can take"
The EA require an abstraction licence for taking ground water on a commercial scale but they're not interested in domestic usage. They don't control collection of rain water off your own property either.
There's a sampling hole been dug in the water meadow not far away so I know what the water level is like. It seems like a more or less inexhaustible supply, though there is the minor inconvenience of wires, pipes and pumps.
The current legislation, in force since April 2005, means that you can extract up to 20,000 litres of groundwater a day without a licence being required. The regulations used to state that this was for domestic use only, but this was simplified in the 2003 Water Resource Act.
Although you don't need a licence this doesn't neccesarily mean you are imune to formal drought orders, which can (although they haven't yet this year) include restrictions on the use of water from private supplies.
If you're well goes below 15 metres then you have to tell the British Geological Survey about it, but I guess that's fairly unlikely for a DIY hand dug well!
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