Question
i live outside of boston, ma. i border a pond. the distance to the pond that i want to draw water from to irrigate my lawn, is 80 feet with an 8 foot incline to the house. i currently have an irrigation system by town water with 7 zones, with an average of 4-6 sprinkler heads per zone. my question is, can i draw the water from the pond with a pump situated at the house, which is a distance of 80 feet, or do i need to place the pump within 15 feet of the pond?

Answer
Jim,
  Yes you will need to put the pump as close to the pond as possible, but obviously higher than the flood line. You don't specify what kind of sprinkler heads are running at 4-6 per zone, but a good guess is that you will need to pump 12-18 gallons per minute. This depends on the nozzle size in the heads. Look at the size of the pond and make sure that you have enogh water available to pump.

I will get back to you with more pump info in a day or two when I get more time. Things are a bit hectic around here right now.
                           Thanks, Jim