Spring Development Red Shirt Lake, AK

[kenhill]

This winter when up on the ridge, I noticed an area where there was no snow even though there was about 2 feet on the ground and 15 degrees.  I went down to look and water was flowing out of the ground.  Here is how I developed our spring.  I first made a dirt dam with a pipe through it to measure the flow.  It was 2 gallons a minute.

Here is the picture of the spring.  It is about 2 foot across where the water flows out of the ground:
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I bought two 15 gallon water jugs from Sports Authority and cut the top off of one and cut the other in half:



From the one I cut in half, I cut two strips off of the bottom part, notched two rings so they would fit inside my lids:

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I then riveted the rings into the lid:
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I then had lids so I could get into the spring barrel and the reservoir barrel to clean them:

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I used a hole saw to add the fittings for hoses to connect to:

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I cut a 1.5 inch slot in the spring barrel so the water could get in:

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So you can see the spring barrel collects the water and will gravity feed the reservoir barrel:

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I took multiple layers of cheese cloth, filled with pea gravel, rolled into a tube and tied as a barrier to keep soil from entering the spring barrel:

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I placed the cheese cloth/gravel up against where the water comes out of the ground:

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I inserted the spring barrel with the 1.5 inch slot facing the water flow and cheese cloth/gravel.  Then I covered the cloth/gravel with more gravel and then visqueen:

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Here everything is connected.  The spring barrel collects the water, gravity feeds it to the reservoir barrel, the reservoir barrel fills up and has an overflow pipe at the top.  The pipe out of the bottom of the barrel flows down hill 450 feet to our cabin where there is more than enough pressure to flow in the sink.  I wrapped a closed cell ground pad around the barrel and buried hoping that it would add insulation for winter.



I haven't mastered rotating the photo and it look weird.  You'll have to rotate left mentally.

I have a valve set up where I can cut off the flow from the spring and drain the lines to the cabin for winter.  I can then turn the valve on that will allow the water to discharge on the ground when I am not there.  I close the discharge valve and then the cabin is pressurized. The question I am concerned about: is a water flow of 1-2 gallons per hour in a 1.5 inch pipe enough to keep it from freezing when the temps are 35 below zero?

[John Raabe]

Great project and well documented how-to. It will be interesting to see if the supply line stays open over the winter. Burying the line in a trench will help keep it flowing but that is a big project in itself.

[kenhill]

Well, we had an unusual winter.  We hike out 3 miles and skated down to our cabin about 3 miles in November.  The ice was crystal clear and you could see fish under the ice!! 






My spring created a stalagmite and then later the water froze in the pipe.  I am wondering if the pipe was smaller if the flowing water would have prevented freezing.



My son looked in the reservoir and saw leaches at New Years.  Not sure how they could have gotten in there.  I hit the spring box and the reservoir with Clorox.