In thinking about the ponds and putting in water sources I just ran across this on the NWTF website. Seems like it would be a nice fit for wildlife, including deer. Anyone ever done anything quite like this? If you could keep it open this time of year I would think the critters would use it frequently. Not sure if predators would use it as an ambush spot if it’s being heavily used. I’m guessing it would provide a great trail cam spot. Thoughts?
http://www.nwtf.org/conservation/article/water-wells-cedar-bluff
I have just the setup, a solar well, its called "livestock well". I got my set up from
https://solarpumps.com/
I pumps about 2.8 gallons a minute. On a stock tank, you'd have a float switch to turn it off. The DC pump runs on 12-38VDC
The well is 178 feet deep, static water level at 100 feet, pump is about 40 feet under the water line. Well is a 6" commercial.
The pipe from pump to cap is just 1/2" black poly pipe. I pierced a hole in the side of it just below the frost line, this creates an internal leak to allow the water to drain down to where it wont freeze. I did stub out the section that goes througt the cap in 1" PVC, but went back and used galvanized, so if a forest fire came through, it wont melt it and drop my pump in the bottom of the well. I have a stub ater the 90" turn longer then well size, so it wont drop in.
Cost was about $11,000, $8000 for well back in 06, then add the pump, panels, wiring kit, well cap, hardware, fencing... was close to $3000. I added the fencing around it to protect it. So its a spendy proposition.
Oh, I might add, I bought their 24V transformer, plugs into my generators 110VAC and I can run the well on those days with little to no sun. Fortunately, my area gets 300+ days of sunshine a year. Warm summers, very cold winters.
Water runs at the level a kitchen sink would at full open. Pump is capable of building good pressure, but on a well set up like this, its open, flows when power is applied. Simple set up, no storage batteries etc. Never under really any pressure. Well drillers report showed my well producing 15GPM.