We are looking for a piece of property for our horses and the area that I am in is not replete with great choices. We have also had drought conditions that are really scary. The property has a well. My question is what are the pitfalls of using lake water to water the pastures. Does anyone do this. The property we are looking at has a large 8 acre lake right in front of the house. We could easily pump water into a sprinkler system if we needed to. Is there any advantage in doing this rather than using the well water? Or is it dangerous to live stock in any way?
Are these waters solely on the property or are they “waters of the U.S.” or of the State? The answer to this is the first one you must have.
If there are no legal restrictions then you need to check the water quality.
But if there are no legal restrictions and no water quality hazards then the answer is “yes, you can.”
The last issue is cost. You’ll need a pumping system and a spraying system.
Good luck in your program.
G.
Unless the pond/lake (lucky you) is contaminated with known carcinogens what’s there to worry about?
You don’t say how big an area/acres you want/need to irrigate. If it is larger than a small lawn just using “lawn” sprinklers isn’t going to do much. You will need to invest in a large pump, electric or gas, depending on the type of pump there may be a need for flow/pressure regulating “attachments”, add ons. Ag iragation “stuff”, pipe, Ag size sprinkler heads, etc, etc. If you live in an Ag area and irrigation is more the norm than the exception talk to a supplier.
Using a well for large irrigation is not a good idea. Unless the system was set up for this. Would put quite a strain on the average residential well and pump system. It takes a LOT of water to make much of a difference. You will need to know a few specs/details about the well, standing water and recharge rate to start with.
And what G said, we were posting at the exact same time.
