Question

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Followup To

Question -
Hi Jim,

We're in the Chicago area in a new construction home.  We have a sump pump that runs continually in wet weather and approximately every 2-3 minutes in dry.  The water table is obviously very high, and some even guess that we're on an underground spring.

We would like to make lemonade from these lemons.  What kind of storage/distribution system could we put in place to allow us to use this excess groundwater in our landscaping?  We obviously still have great access to the water even during dry spells, so I'm really against just tying the line into the storm sewer.

We do have some room in the basement for a storage system if that is practical.  We would like to set up a micro-irrigation system for plantings that are both slightly downhill and slightly uphill of the current sump ejection location.

Thanks for any experience you can share in this matter.

Answer -
Aimee,
I don't know if there is enough water coming out of the sump pump to do anything. You really need hundreds a gallons of water to make it worth you while ther. try to get an estimate of how much water the pump will give you per day or hour or minute. Then get back to me and we'll see if we can figure out what you can do with that amount of water. Jim


Hi Jim,

OK, here's the initial measurement... with rain, our heavy flow rate is about 6-7 gallons per minute.  Our dry weather flow is still at about 1-2 gallons per minute.  Obviously we're talking about a bunch of water.  It just seems terrible to waste it since we're pumping it out anyway.

Aimee

Answer
Aimee,
Are you sure that is how much you are getting. If so you have  done some work on this and that is perhaps enough water to do something with.

Now don't go thinking that you can pump sprinkler heads off of the sump pump. However, you could possibly do some kind of drip system like that. This would work for shrubs, flowers, but not lawn. Perhaps even a few micro sprays.

Don't know how big these things are as far as lawn, beds, etc.. With that much water you could store it in some sort of cistern or tank and pump from that. That's more money, more work, more trhinking on my part. Let me know if practical. JIM