On 6/9/2008 12:54 PM, Vik Kasparian wrote:
Greeting from Southern California:
I am interested in extracting water from a water table that is
less than 15' deep. I know the depth of the water table as I recently
dug a trench to install a sewer pipe. There was so much water that we
needed to de-water the trench with a pump to install the line. We were
pumping approx 45 gallons per minute (or 170 liters/min)
I suppose that I can get the irrigation water the same way by
digging a trench filling it with rock and submersing a pump, but I am
not sure if this is really the best practice.

Would appreciate your feedback.

Thanks

Get the water tested.

In some cases (depending on the subsoil type), ground water might
contain excess salts that can damage plants. Or it might contain other
minerals that adversely impact the tilth of surface soil.

However, in some cases, ground water that is totally unsuitable for
drinking because of mineral content can be quite okay for irrigation. I
know of a public park that was successfully irrigated with highly
mineralized ground water. The water table was less than 10 ft down.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/