Is a pond a sufficient for emergency water storage?

[csaws]

We bought a Berkey filter to filter our lake water if need be.

 

[Clay Pigeon]

It is...1/10hp Drummond transfer pump from Harbor Freight. Originally bought it to water grass seed after having the pond dug last summer (right before the drought)...lasted one week then I went and bought the 1/2hp pump to run two sprinklers simultaneously.

My pond is up about a foot from when I took this picture, which should help immensely with flow - that little Drummond doesn't much care for 4' of nearly vertical intake lift but does a pretty nice job with 18" or less rise from water to pump.

The Sawyer filter is more than sufficient for clean drinking water, but I had the RV filter too and thought "what the heck".

Move the pump down next to the water to eliminate as much negative head as you can. Centrifugal pumps are designed to pump liquids....

 

[dprimm]

We bought a Berkey filter to filter our lake water if need be.

On my to-do list as this situation slows down. Too many things right now to get there this week. I CAN get to potable water if things head that bad.

 

[avboiler11]

Move the pump down next to the water to eliminate as much negative head as you can. Centrifugal pumps are designed to pump liquids....

That's one way to do it...the other is to let the water move up toward the pump

 

[longbow]

Yes if you can filter, boil, and treat. When this crap is over im building a serious rain havesting system. My old system failed two years ago from age....built in 1920

 

[Glock1230]

Treating the water would be the issue. Most ponds in neighborhoods have tons of chemicals dumped into them

 

[csaws]

Treating the water would be the issue. Most ponds in neighborhoods have tons of chemicals dumped into them

Since you brought up the chemicals. Would you personally eat the fish out of that same pond? You guys really should research the Berkey Filters. The list of the stuff those filters filter out is extensive.

 

[Irukanji]

A couple of things to consider. Where is the run off coming from, what was the use of the land where the pond sits and run off comes from?

Pesticides, heavy metals, PCB's and other bad things may not biodegrade and could concentrate over time. Even higher end filtration can pass some of these through and boiling and chlorine won't impact them. You may be able to get the Board of Health water lab to test for things, or a coop extension?? I don't know, but that might be the best solution.

You may be fine, but just something to research before going all in on it. Even wells can have contamination so testing is likely worth the effort.

Just my $0.02.