How to pump water from woods to pond or garden

[JDRandyC]

I have 23 acres with about a 1 1/2 acre pond that is fed by spring and surface water runoff. With heavy rains, the overflow runs into a low area in some partially cleared woods behind my house. Problem is that this water stands in an area of about 1/4th acre and it seems to take a long time to drain back down. Bad problem with mosquitos, etc.

I had an idea that maybe I could pump this water back to my pasture to water garden or simply pump into pasture to dry up this area in the woods. Also thought that maybe I could pump the water back into the pond because the water level in the pond will go back down but there will still be water in the woods.

The distance from the water in the woods to the pasture is about 250 feet and the elevation is probably 4-5 feet. Distance from water in the woods back to pond is proably 400-500 feet and also elevation of 4-5 feet.

How could I best do this? I thought about laying some PVC pipe and would like to have some type of system where I could have some type of electric pump to pump this water back up the hill. I would like to put the pump near the barn which is about 100 feet from the water in the woods.

How would you go about doing this? Do you think this would work and is it a good solution to my problem of water in this low area and the resultant mosquitoes.

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.

 

[Egon]

Think about installing a caisson to pump from. This might give you cleaner water to pump. Maybe some lateral trenches to the caisson to help collect the water will help.

For a pump a trash pump would probably meet your needs but the discharge line hose to be sized to accommodate the length and not create too much pressure drop.

A submerged centrifugal sized for volume more so than high pressure might be another option.

The discharge end is a question mark as we know little of the type of soil conditions but your reasoning seems viable.

 

[dave1949]

Be careful of wetland rules. It's a balancing act to survive your states DEP and the mosquitos

To pump the water from the low laying area, you would probably need some sort of sump/cistern/small pond collection point to give the pump something to work on without running dry quickly.

How large of an area is wet below the pond? It's possible pumping won't really dry it out that much. An alternative, if it is a large enough area, is to purposely make it wetter like a shallow pond, to support things that eat mosquito larvae.
Dave.

 

[rjkobbeman]

Is there a way to control/divert the pond overflow before it gets to the low field?

 

[zzvyb6]

If you can locate a spot in the swamp that has a slight breeze or better, a windmill connected to a water pump will serve you very well. You'll need a 2" or 4" pump cylinder and some way to transport the water, but in the long run, a windmill can produce plenty of water over a given period of time. I have an 8' fan Flint & Wahling mill thats over 80 years old and still puts out enough water such that I have to shut it down once in a while. Even a new Aermotor and tower pays for itself in the long run compared to cost of a decent electric equivalent. I have a tractor powered PTO irrigation pump that does a decent job, too. but to get it into a swamp risks getting stuck.