The trees with the feathery leaves/branches are called wattle trees. They have become an invasive species here in South Africa. They drink a HUGE amount of water and dry up small streams. Small streams and rivers have started to flow after 20 years here after intensive eradication of wattle along river banks in different parts of South Africa. Your water should increase if you try and eradicate the wattle trees. Also, wattle poisons the land and it is very difficult to grow any type of vegetables on land that had wattle growing on it. Love your videos. Regards from South Africa
I suggest making the tank a watertower, it doesnt even need to be very high to provide good constant water pressure. It's very compatible with solar because you only need a small pump that only runs whenever you have excess solar to refill the tank. Showers and stuff can use a lot of water quickly so this mitigates the need for big expensive (noisy) pumps.
Personally I'd go with all three options as you evolve the camp. Start with the most simple, which is using the well, this you can do mainly with the resources you already have available. Then as you get a larger roof surface area, get an intermediate size tank - say 5000L. Finally as funds allow, and the camp grows and so does its water needs, the large tank with bore on top of the hill that can gravity supply the entire camp.
Speaking of fires. It is always good to have a few ways off of the property if you have eucalyptus growing nearby. The oils in the wood and leaves have evolved to create conditions for fires, and burn a lot hotter than a lot of other types of trees. I would make sure to maintain that road out, and for the fire service so make the property safer and easier to defend.
Agreements with neighbors regularly end up in tears. I would be looking at it as a short term solution, while I organised better permanent infrastructure for extremely important water supply, which you cannot afford to have cut off at short notice, even if right now they are the best neighbor ever.
well said. big risk for something so important. better to spend some effort and resources now to future proof yourself against a future neighbour who might not be so friendly.
Eucalyptus trees are the main reason for a lot of problems with fire. Invasive species are the main problem in many of the problems we have to face today. Rabbits and cats in Australia, american rivercrabs in sweetwater ponds in the Netherlands.
The main reason for fire proples are people. People set things on fire. Having eucalyptus certainly aggravates the severity of those fires, but trees don't combust by themselves, people set them on fire. So, again, the main reason for a a lot of problems with fires are people (also because people planted those trees to begin with). I would actually like to also add up that his land is actually infested with "Mimosa" trees (I have no idea how it is called in english), which is also an invasive species (much more than the eucalyptus) and extremely prone to fire too.
@@l23722 It seems that you don't understand the natural behaviour of the eucalytus species, and why it can be such a dangerous tree in areas where there is no maintenance and where it doesn't belong. First thing to know is that eucalytus survives fire and their seeds like to be burnt before sprouting. So after a fire all other species are burnt but only eucalyptus survives, that will be the start of another bigger disaster.
@@markschattefor6997 correct... eucalytus actually creates an environment that is highly flammable, and on top of that they suck all the water out of the ground ... So often a meter of highly flammable materiale on top of dried out dirt... = it burns like tinder regardless if there are humans are not... but humans ofc makes the risk of fire higher ;P
Don't forget that the pipes need to be buried so they don't melt in a fire! Water from deep bore holes aren't necessarily 'clean'. Often they have high amounts of iron and other minerals. Great that you decided not to rush into doing big stuff. You already have water on your land. You will find a good solution!
It's always good to observe the land first and in between you can use rainwater 💧💦and it would be great if the neighbor allows you to use that overflow of the well.
Hey, great vid as usual ! Don't forget you can always combine multiple solutions. As in a modern house, using rainwater for the garden, toilet and some other appliances and providing drinking water from the grid, you could combine solution #2 and #3. Gather water from your flat surfaces to provide water for basic sanitation and for the garden (you can filter and sanitise it for washing your clothes for instance) AND try to find a solution for your well to provide you with potable water. A solar powered pump connected to a tank higher from base kamp provides enough water pressure for normal usage. Keep it up it's always good to see projects like yours take form ! Goeiedag uit Belgïe !
if collecting rainwater isn´t very expensive it´s always worth to do it and use it for watering the plants / trees, so that you don´t 'waste' purified water on that, so your requirements of purified water for drinking will be smaller
If you do decide to dam up the stream and have like a 5 foot drop, you could easily use a Ram Pump to get water to the top of the hill and fill the tank for free. Ram Pumps are amazing technology and dead simple to make and use.
Hello, When storing big amounts of water in stainless steel drum ,make sure that water temperature in summer is not rise above 25*C . And be careful when storing big amounts of cold water - stagnation is bad thing an bacteria can grow inside that storage tank.
I’d say a mix of well and rainwater collection would be good and scalable. The well is nice in the dry seasons but it’s hard to beat rainwater properly filtered and cleaned. It’s naturally soft, mineral and chemicals free, and pretty simple to collect a ton of it. I worry about your wells being so close to so much farm land. The likelihood of you having harmful bacteria, sulfur, chemicals, heavy metals, etc in your well water is pretty high which can be quite expensive to fix. A three stage water filter and UV treatment can put rainwater above water treatment standards for the US and can be built from basic consumer grade parts. As for storage April Wilkerson here on RUclips did a video on rainwater collection and she is using a massive built in place “tank” that uses a liner like a big swimming pool. You get incredible capacity for way less than free standing tanks.
See if Guildbrook Farm has some info, they build a well (and had problems). Also Kirsten Dirksen looks into alternatives like in the video: New Earthships capture more energy, water & food at lower cost
IBC containers are 1000 litres and make a good water tank just need painting black light and easy to move. Easy to add more storage just by connecting them together. In the UK second hand food ones are approx £40. They can also be used if you fancy producing your own methane from kitchen waste to use in a gas cooker (bio digester).
I think we should also consider what the use is. like for someone living off girl alone it’s maybe not the best idea to drill for water, but for a whole community i think it is more acceptable because more ppl are benefiting from it. considering it is a project it would maybe even a cool idea to do all 3 methods to gather data on the pros and cons in the real world, like what filtration is like, coasts, upkeep, consumables etc. vs a deep water source that is clean.
Go big, and then double it. You are better to have to much storage than too little. Wine tanks are great. Set them up, paint them white, so they are not blinding, and be secure.
Hello, new to your channel, I like what I am seeing, regarding the water supply, I was thinking, if you have running water on your property, maybe you can use an "ram pump" to achieve elevation for water, look it up. good job.
Also have multiple tanks for backup plumb them to balance the tank levels but keep all but the one you used closed in case of well anything. Then collect rain water from all reasonable sized roofs you can they can all run underground as long as the top of the tank is slightly lower than the source points the water will collect and overflow into the tank(s) have a drain on the underwater pipes to allow it to be periodically drained. I have 46KL of water tanks on my house this way and water is fine for years in it (without filtering - pure natural rain water, better than the bottled stuff!) You can also if paranoid get a H2O2 tank treatment bottle which poured in kills anything you may worry about then of course can run sediment/charcoal filters if desired. Also always have a tap (metal brass etc) on the outlet of the tank in case of needing to dismantle the plumbing.
There is the option to do more then one option. At some point add a tank to any roof structure even a covered patio. Well for now till you bore a hole. Since you will also need water for plants and animals more then one source makes sense. And not all will need to be filtered just drinking and cooking water.
If you're going to put a solar system on that hill anyway, maybe you could also use it to get LTE or a direct wifi link (2-3km are doable with line of sight) onto your property. Thinking about that, a weather webcam also crosses my mind.
For now the neighbor solution should be enough. For the future you can still utilize the others tho, rainwater is also useful to store for things like watering plants, and the big tank might give you the necessary supply for many more people.
rainwater and a HUGE tank is the way to go for irrigation and "gray water" .. + a huge water tank will provide water WHEN (not if) the next fire comes along...
Just a small correction: the Star Mountain (Serra da Estrela), is not the highest mountain in Portugal, it is the second highest. The highest mountain of Portugal is Mount Pico in Pico Island!
You could also look into setting up a ram or tromps pump system if you have flowing water across your property, which I believe you do. From either of these you could go to a tank near the base camp which could also be fed by the small roof catchments on the camp. Using the abandoned well water definitely appears to be the best option short term fix, I hope the neighbor agrees and lets you use it. Also recommend you look into Yeomans work and his scale of permanence to help you lay down a good ecological water based design, it’s a great tool in the land designers kit. All the best
I really like how you gave thought to all the options and came up with a good solution, as long as your neighbor agrees. By the way, the cover on the old well would probably be called a 'cap'. Try to find out WHY it was abandoned.
I enjoy listening to your plans … you think a lot about most things you do … then go for it … fingers crossed the neighbours allow you to use their well … it would be a great set up … good luck … 🙏☘️😘
Awesome. Really glad you realised how invasive and unnecessary drilling a borehole would be. Using an existing well was a great solution and I'm glad your neighbours helped you. It's handy that it borders your land because you could easily share it with the neighbour if they want to use it in the future too. Collecting rainwater is also a no brainer. It's so cheap and easy to do. Requires no electronics so is right there in the event of a fire or something and is perfect for so many uses such as watering plants, putting out fires (not electrical ones tho), for building, and so many other things and it is also the most sustainable source of water. All you need to collect rain water is guttering and a water container. Some people have even made do with less than that! So you might want to work out how to collect some rainwater too.
Hi, your wood of mimosas is amazing! Let me say that the prize of digging a well in Portugal is very cheap! Where I live, northern Italy, the prize is 100 euro per meter, only for the digging. So I decided for my house to collect rain water. It is enough for the garden, at least 70-80.000 liters per year. Anyway good job. Greetings.
Checkout "food grade IBC totes" for water storage. These are very modest cost even new and are readily available second hand for reuse. They are tanks on a pallet used for delivering liquid food ingredients. They're usually 1,000 liters each, fit two deep/wide inside containers, stack two high. You could grow a bank of these on top of your unused container roof to match increasing demand from Kamp growth. The only downside is they would need protecting from the sun.
I came here for comments like these!! I think the eucalyptus trees are planted in a kind of Syntropic Planting system, which could also be providing wonderful biomass and may provide good reason for a collaborative work like Swales to happen!
Swales good plan. Lots of water running over land needs to sink in. Create deep ponds, deeper pond? Dig swales and plants masses of fruit and nut trees(you will need the nuts and dried fruit in lean times). Frogs for pond and more amphibian life. I moved into a city flat over 10yrs ago. Bare weedy garden. Planted fig, pear and mould resistant grape, masses of fruit. Dug massive base down 1 foot for base of poly tunnel. Built wooden shed. (Shou sugi ban). Water tight shed, 4 water butts full of rain water all year. Compost every scrap from kitchen; tiger worms, worm bin. Masses of compost. Bigger trees, more fruit. (Also rock dust to establish trees). This will produce stronger tree root systems. You will need in case of more intense destruction and flash flooding. You have everything you need on your land. Need chickens and goat perhaps. Diatoms*, keeps parasites off the animals. And out of your living space. Go veggy. Maybe vegan. *Diatomaceous Earth.
Though making a well is necessary, rain collection is also interesting as complement or support. Also each can be appointed for different uses. Do you know a kind of passive solar construction called ‘earthship’ which uses rain collection? I think those would be interesting for your Project Kamp. Saludos desde España!
It could be nice to use the rainwater collection from the start, in addition to the neighbor well. Even with fewer surfaces, it could be good because it would give you guys experience with rainwater collection, and it wouldn't be much effort and costs, plus it would give some water for smaller uses, like watering plants and so on, and it would give us the experience and learning from doing it, which in turn could lead to other insights and ideas.
I love your theme song. It's a Gospel Song. "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms" Lyrics: What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms; What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Chorus: Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms; Leaning, leaning, leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Have you ever heard this song. I don't know if they sing it in Nederlands churches.
Great video/entry as always! Thank you! Regarding water: wouldn't it be better for you to use smaller tanks (5/10k liters), buried or not, close to/on the back of every single structure that needs water, using rainwater collection? That way, you'd have more water, overall, but smaller infrastructures individually. Although it would take more time, I probably would consider that option along with placing a bigger tank on the top of the land that would also collect water in the next couple of years and have it as a backup (it would fill slowly but it wouldn't be used as a primary source). Just food for thought!
Een rvs tank zal snel opwarmen zeker als je in Portugal woont. de opwarming van een ongeïsoleerde tank zal minstens 3 tot 5 gr. celsius per 24 uur zijn. misschien zelfs meer als een tank in de zon staat.
trust me you need a bore hole at least for dinking water, many places in Portugal the municity is using bore holes for public water anyway for the remaining stuff you can use water from spring
Several things: - Drilling a borehole from a higher elevation could result in needing to drill much, much deeper to reach the water table. - Rather than spending a lot of money on a huge water tank and long pipe run, it might be more efficient to buy some IBC totes to store non-potable water and a small stainless steel tank for potable water. - Non-potable water storage could combine several sources, like rainwater, that neighbor's well, and even the stream if filtered and treated with chlorine. IBC totes could handle this easily. - Potable water is so critical to human health that maximum consideration should be given to it. A proper system with progressive filtration, UV sterilization, and thorough testing for contaminants is almost a necessity. If that is a longer term proposition, then an alternative is a small mobile water tank drawn behind a vehicle that can be filled at the community water water station and then pumped into a small potable water tank either inside the kitchen container or next to it in a freeze proof & elevated structure of some sort. Sustainable rural water systems is a very, very important topic. I hope some experts weigh in on this so we can all learn from your forthcoming project.
The borehole would be the right option for the long term. The gravity feed is excellent redundancy, you can use flexline tubing to pipe it down to basekamp or wherever you need it, and a borehole is hardly invasive. It is expensive, though, especially with a 16kL stainless tank.
What about running a sturdy pipe from the lagoon. You repaired the floodway/gate and your neighbor seems quite amenable to your projects. The lagoon is way up hill and would easily fill a tank ( with plenty of pressure ). Alternatively. run the pipe into the existing well to insure water during the dry months. The excess water from the lagoon just runs into a stream so what difference does it makes if the overflow from the lagoon goes to the well when it's needed! If there is run off It still returns to the ground water of the area! Great Job!
If you go with that solution i would suggest getting a pump big enough that you can use in the bore hole option. The well seems like a good solution for now but i have a feeling you will need the bore hole. Great video as always!
I know this is really old so youre not going to take this suggestion, but I probably would have gotten a secondary normal metal tank perhaps. That can be used for non drinking water related stuff (bathing, cleaning stuff like tools, clothes, etc, watering plants), especially with how global warming is going to go, theres a good likelyhood youre going to face some droughts. Having more water storage that wont dry off might be a good idea.
€3000 for a borehole is a great deal. it's common in the western US for a 100m borehole to cost $30k, even if the driller doesnt hit water. €5k for pump and plumbing in a shallow well is not accurate. you can do it for under €1k. and you didnt discuss three other ways to get water: haul with truck; collect from surface flow; collect from air via hydropanel or fog net.
So what was the dominant species of tree before the big forest fires? Quercus maybe? I don't think much of the eucalyptus because they are not meant for Europe (they are from Australia). Their roots go so deep they lower the water table and produce all that highly combustible biomass (leaves and bark).
Wij wonen nu 5 jaar in Bulgarije. Wij hebben er ook over gedacht om een boorgat te laten boren maar dat is duur verder we weten niet hoe diep ze water vinden dat was in ons geval ergens tussen 100 en 150 meter. We hebben toen besloten om het niet te doen. We hebben hier wel leidingwater maar om in de warme zomer maanden de tuin te irriteren dat is duur. We hebben wel andere oplossingen gevonden regenwater opslag en groente en fruit dat niet zoveel water nodig heeft. Onze boomgaard die we aangelegd hebben de bomen hebben alleen de eerste 2 jaar na aanplant irrigatie nodig. Ik zou proberen dat stukje land met waterput te kopen van buren. Het is nooit goed om je afhankelijk van iemand te maken. Wat als jullie ooit ruzie krijgen met de buren of als er een andere eigenaar komt? Veel succes, Groetjes uit Bulgaria
im not sure you actually need the heavy machinery for a well. In the Netherlands you can order a manual drill 13m for around 135 euro. No idea whether you'd expect to hit rocks while drilling but if it's only sand it might be an option
The metal ones kinda look like old brewing vats. PVC are fine if you paint them, or burry. The UV is the big issue. I do not know what the material origins for PVC tanks where you are; but here in aus a lot are recycled.
Wouldnt put the tank near the eucalyptus theyre a fire waiting to happen. Australia & California have them and prone to bushfires if not managed well. Plus you will have to bury the pipe to avoid getting damaged by fire. Put the bore and tank near the main housing area - have electricity and gasoline pumping systems for fire, watering etc You can have a smaller tank on a large stand or higher up.
The filtration systems you mentioned seem really expensive. I'm no expert but to my knowledge a water system on a sailing boat from salt so fresh water Is like 2000 €. With a big tank this could easily provide for a good sized household. You could just use the stream you already have. The well from the land next to you would make for a great video but would also still need filtration.
Rainwater catch is a long term solution as Base Camp builds more roof space. Water filtration is actually not that difficult or expensive with 4 fifty gal drums, gravel, sand and charcoal. I’ll try to find the link that explains how to do it.ruclips.net/video/kazEAzGWuIc/видео.html
general question, I'm also looking to buy a piece of land in portugal. And also would like to start by dropping 2-3 shipping containers to live from :) But I can't find anything online if you need a permit to place one. Do you need a permit to put a shipping container on your land?
Good morning! Only 2nd time I've been 1st to comment! Really enjoying your channel. Inspiring for our property although ours is not as big or "wild". Looking great!
The trees with the feathery leaves/branches are called wattle trees. They have become an invasive species here in South Africa. They drink a HUGE amount of water and dry up small streams. Small streams and rivers have started to flow after 20 years here after intensive eradication of wattle along river banks in different parts of South Africa. Your water should increase if you try and eradicate the wattle trees. Also, wattle poisons the land and it is very difficult to grow any type of vegetables on land that had wattle growing on it.
Love your videos.
Regards from South Africa
👍
I suggest making the tank a watertower, it doesnt even need to be very high to provide good constant water pressure.
It's very compatible with solar because you only need a small pump that only runs whenever you have excess solar to refill the tank. Showers and stuff can use a lot of water quickly so this mitigates the need for big expensive (noisy) pumps.
Personally I'd go with all three options as you evolve the camp.
Start with the most simple, which is using the well, this you can do mainly with the resources you already have available.
Then as you get a larger roof surface area, get an intermediate size tank - say 5000L.
Finally as funds allow, and the camp grows and so does its water needs, the large tank with bore on top of the hill that can gravity supply the entire camp.
Speaking of fires. It is always good to have a few ways off of the property if you have eucalyptus growing nearby. The oils in the wood and leaves have evolved to create conditions for fires, and burn a lot hotter than a lot of other types of trees. I would make sure to maintain that road out, and for the fire service so make the property safer and easier to defend.
Yes always keep two alternate roads working and accessable .
Agreements with neighbors regularly end up in tears. I would be looking at it as a short term solution, while I organised better permanent infrastructure for extremely important water supply, which you cannot afford to have cut off at short notice, even if right now they are the best neighbor ever.
Agreed, especially since all the neighbours are old and likely the land will change hands at some point.
well said. big risk for something so important. better to spend some effort and resources now to future proof yourself against a future neighbour who might not be so friendly.
May be in your country
Eucalyptus trees are the main reason for a lot of problems with fire.
Invasive species are the main problem in many of the problems we have to face today.
Rabbits and cats in Australia, american rivercrabs in sweetwater ponds in the Netherlands.
The main reason for fire proples are people. People set things on fire. Having eucalyptus certainly aggravates the severity of those fires, but trees don't combust by themselves, people set them on fire. So, again, the main reason for a a lot of problems with fires are people (also because people planted those trees to begin with). I would actually like to also add up that his land is actually infested with "Mimosa" trees (I have no idea how it is called in english), which is also an invasive species (much more than the eucalyptus) and extremely prone to fire too.
@@l23722 It seems that you don't understand the natural behaviour of the eucalytus species, and why it can be such a dangerous tree in areas where there is no maintenance and where it doesn't belong.
First thing to know is that eucalytus survives fire and their seeds like to be burnt before sprouting.
So after a fire all other species are burnt but only eucalyptus survives, that will be the start of another bigger disaster.
@@markschattefor6997 correct... eucalytus actually creates an environment that is highly flammable, and on top of that they suck all the water out of the ground ... So often a meter of highly flammable materiale on top of dried out dirt... = it burns like tinder regardless if there are humans are not... but humans ofc makes the risk of fire higher ;P
@@l23722 most forest fires has natural causes.. like lightning...
Don't forget that the pipes need to be buried so they don't melt in a fire! Water from deep bore holes aren't necessarily 'clean'. Often they have high amounts of iron and other minerals. Great that you decided not to rush into doing big stuff. You already have water on your land. You will find a good solution!
even it may contain arsenic
It's always good to observe the land first and in between you can use rainwater 💧💦and it would be great if the neighbor allows you to use that overflow of the well.
Hey, great vid as usual ! Don't forget you can always combine multiple solutions. As in a modern house, using rainwater for the garden, toilet and some other appliances and providing drinking water from the grid, you could combine solution #2 and #3. Gather water from your flat surfaces to provide water for basic sanitation and for the garden (you can filter and sanitise it for washing your clothes for instance) AND try to find a solution for your well to provide you with potable water. A solar powered pump connected to a tank higher from base kamp provides enough water pressure for normal usage.
Keep it up it's always good to see projects like yours take form ! Goeiedag uit Belgïe !
if collecting rainwater isn´t very expensive it´s always worth to do it and use it for watering the plants / trees, so that you don´t 'waste' purified water on that, so your requirements of purified water for drinking will be smaller
If you do decide to dam up the stream and have like a 5 foot drop, you could easily use a Ram Pump to get water to the top of the hill and fill the tank for free. Ram Pumps are amazing technology and dead simple to make and use.
Hello,
When storing big amounts of water in stainless steel drum ,make sure that water temperature in summer is not rise above 25*C . And be careful when storing big amounts of cold water - stagnation is bad thing an bacteria can grow inside that storage tank.
I’d say a mix of well and rainwater collection would be good and scalable. The well is nice in the dry seasons but it’s hard to beat rainwater properly filtered and cleaned. It’s naturally soft, mineral and chemicals free, and pretty simple to collect a ton of it. I worry about your wells being so close to so much farm land. The likelihood of you having harmful bacteria, sulfur, chemicals, heavy metals, etc in your well water is pretty high which can be quite expensive to fix. A three stage water filter and UV treatment can put rainwater above water treatment standards for the US and can be built from basic consumer grade parts.
As for storage April Wilkerson here on RUclips did a video on rainwater collection and she is using a massive built in place “tank” that uses a liner like a big swimming pool. You get incredible capacity for way less than free standing tanks.
"neighbourland" Sounds like a nice place to visit.
👍
See if Guildbrook Farm has some info, they build a well (and had problems). Also Kirsten Dirksen looks into alternatives like in the video: New Earthships capture more energy, water & food at lower cost
IBC containers are 1000 litres and make a good water tank just need painting black light and easy to move. Easy to add more storage just by connecting them together. In the UK second hand food ones are approx £40. They can also be used if you fancy producing your own methane from kitchen waste to use in a gas cooker (bio digester).
I think we should also consider what the use is. like for someone living off girl alone it’s maybe not the best idea to drill for water, but for a whole community i think it is more acceptable because more ppl are benefiting from it. considering it is a project it would maybe even a cool idea to do all 3 methods to gather data on the pros and cons in the real world, like what filtration is like, coasts, upkeep, consumables etc. vs a deep water source that is clean.
Go big, and then double it. You are better to have to much storage than too little. Wine tanks are great. Set them up, paint them white, so they are not blinding, and be secure.
I appreciate you showing the place you plan to put the tank. I need to see every step I can to educate myself. This is very helpful!
Hello, new to your channel, I like what I am seeing, regarding the water supply, I was thinking, if you have running water on your property, maybe you can use an "ram pump" to achieve elevation for water, look it up. good job.
Also have multiple tanks for backup plumb them to balance the tank levels but keep all but the one you used closed in case of well anything. Then collect rain water from all reasonable sized roofs you can they can all run underground as long as the top of the tank is slightly lower than the source points the water will collect and overflow into the tank(s) have a drain on the underwater pipes to allow it to be periodically drained. I have 46KL of water tanks on my house this way and water is fine for years in it (without filtering - pure natural rain water, better than the bottled stuff!) You can also if paranoid get a H2O2 tank treatment bottle which poured in kills anything you may worry about then of course can run sediment/charcoal filters if desired. Also always have a tap (metal brass etc) on the outlet of the tank in case of needing to dismantle the plumbing.
There is the option to do more then one option. At some point add a tank to any roof structure even a covered patio. Well for now till you bore a hole. Since you will also need water for plants and animals more then one source makes sense. And not all will need to be filtered just drinking and cooking water.
If you're going to put a solar system on that hill anyway, maybe you could also use it to get LTE or a direct wifi link (2-3km are doable with line of sight) onto your property. Thinking about that, a weather webcam also crosses my mind.
For now the neighbor solution should be enough. For the future you can still utilize the others tho, rainwater is also useful to store for things like watering plants, and the big tank might give you the necessary supply for many more people.
rainwater and a HUGE tank is the way to go for irrigation and "gray water" .. + a huge water tank will provide water WHEN (not if) the next fire comes along...
Just a small correction: the Star Mountain (Serra da Estrela), is not the highest mountain in Portugal, it is the second highest. The highest mountain of Portugal is Mount Pico in Pico Island!
Enjoyed from Texas!
Looks such a Beautiful Place 🤩 watching your channel has really helped with my Mental health with everything going on in the World
You could also look into setting up a ram or tromps pump system if you have flowing water across your property, which I believe you do. From either of these you could go to a tank near the base camp which could also be fed by the small roof catchments on the camp. Using the abandoned well water definitely appears to be the best option short term fix, I hope the neighbor agrees and lets you use it. Also recommend you look into Yeomans work and his scale of permanence to help you lay down a good ecological water based design, it’s a great tool in the land designers kit. All the best
I really like how you gave thought to all the options and came up with a good solution, as long as your neighbor agrees. By the way, the cover on the old well would probably be called a 'cap'. Try to find out WHY it was abandoned.
Good point didnt cross my mind
Obviously the whole plot of land is abandoned.
I enjoy listening to your plans … you think a lot about most things you do … then go for it … fingers crossed the neighbours allow you to use their well … it would be a great set up … good luck … 🙏☘️😘
Awesome. Really glad you realised how invasive and unnecessary drilling a borehole would be. Using an existing well was a great solution and I'm glad your neighbours helped you. It's handy that it borders your land because you could easily share it with the neighbour if they want to use it in the future too. Collecting rainwater is also a no brainer. It's so cheap and easy to do. Requires no electronics so is right there in the event of a fire or something and is perfect for so many uses such as watering plants, putting out fires (not electrical ones tho), for building, and so many other things and it is also the most sustainable source of water. All you need to collect rain water is guttering and a water container. Some people have even made do with less than that! So you might want to work out how to collect some rainwater too.
Good technical commentary and assessment of your options.
So funny that you are chasing a watertank while it's pijpenstelen 😉
with those eucalyptus trees and bushes on top of the hill you could easily be walking around in Australia
‘This for you RUclips...’ :D
thanks, first laugh of my morning (I’m not in a good mood)
You really need to plant some native forest. Apparently, if you peel off a section acasia bark they die off, coppicing only encourages new growth.
Hi, your wood of mimosas is amazing! Let me say that the prize of digging a well in Portugal is very cheap! Where I live, northern Italy, the prize is 100 euro per meter, only for the digging. So I decided for my house to collect rain water. It is enough for the garden, at least 70-80.000 liters per year. Anyway good job. Greetings.
Thanks for sharing these tips.
Keep up the great work! 💖
Very near from you, in Galicia, Spain... love the town,,,very similar to my hometown
well presented sir you make this interesting for the handyman great watch booooom
Checkout "food grade IBC totes" for water storage.
These are very modest cost even new and are readily available second hand for reuse. They are tanks on a pallet used for delivering liquid food ingredients. They're usually 1,000 liters each, fit two deep/wide inside containers, stack two high. You could grow a bank of these on top of your unused container roof to match increasing demand from Kamp growth. The only downside is they would need protecting from the sun.
Great to see how you believe you can count on the neighbours, would be great to see the face of the neighbour you’re talking about if they say yes!
Have you considered using swales to divert the erosive flow on your road? Would have the added benefit of recharging any springs nearby
As they are on a big Hill, I guess it would be quite tricky and a huge project. Nonetheless a good one
The problem is, the road is not theirs. It's a public road from the local government.
I came here for comments like these!! I think the eucalyptus trees are planted in a kind of Syntropic Planting system, which could also be providing wonderful biomass and may provide good reason for a collaborative work like Swales to happen!
Swales good plan. Lots of water running over land needs to sink in. Create deep ponds, deeper pond? Dig swales and plants masses of fruit and nut trees(you will need the nuts and dried fruit in lean times). Frogs for pond and more amphibian life.
I moved into a city flat over 10yrs ago. Bare weedy garden. Planted fig, pear and mould resistant grape, masses of fruit. Dug massive base down 1 foot for base of poly tunnel. Built wooden shed. (Shou sugi ban). Water tight shed, 4 water butts full of rain water all year. Compost every scrap from kitchen; tiger worms, worm bin. Masses of compost. Bigger trees, more fruit. (Also rock dust to establish trees). This will produce stronger tree root systems. You will need in case of more intense destruction and flash flooding.
You have everything you need on your land. Need chickens and goat perhaps.
Diatoms*, keeps parasites off the animals. And out of your living space. Go veggy. Maybe vegan.
*Diatomaceous Earth.
👍
Though making a well is necessary, rain collection is also interesting as complement or support. Also each can be appointed for different uses. Do you know a kind of passive solar construction called ‘earthship’ which uses rain collection? I think those would be interesting for your Project Kamp.
Saludos desde España!
It could be nice to use the rainwater collection from the start, in addition to the neighbor well. Even with fewer surfaces, it could be good because it would give you guys experience with rainwater collection, and it wouldn't be much effort and costs, plus it would give some water for smaller uses, like watering plants and so on, and it would give us the experience and learning from doing it, which in turn could lead to other insights and ideas.
Just a small correction. The highest mountain of portugal is an island call Pico and is in Azores
I love your theme song. It's a Gospel Song. "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms" Lyrics: What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms; What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Chorus: Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms; Leaning, leaning, leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Have you ever heard this song. I don't know if they sing it in Nederlands churches.
Thank you was looking for this. Have a great day
Great video/entry as always! Thank you!
Regarding water: wouldn't it be better for you to use smaller tanks (5/10k liters), buried or not, close to/on the back of every single structure that needs water, using rainwater collection? That way, you'd have more water, overall, but smaller infrastructures individually.
Although it would take more time, I probably would consider that option along with placing a bigger tank on the top of the land that would also collect water in the next couple of years and have it as a backup (it would fill slowly but it wouldn't be used as a primary source).
Just food for thought!
Thanks for posting and sharing. Looking fwd to what happens with the well.
Een rvs tank zal snel opwarmen zeker als je in Portugal woont.
de opwarming van een ongeïsoleerde tank zal minstens 3 tot 5 gr. celsius per 24 uur zijn.
misschien zelfs meer als een tank in de zon staat.
I know it's expensive, but the deep bore hole on the hill seems like a worthy investment
trust me you need a bore hole at least for dinking water, many places in Portugal the municity is using bore holes for public water anyway
for the remaining stuff you can use water from spring
Several things:
- Drilling a borehole from a higher elevation could result in needing to drill much, much deeper to reach the water table.
- Rather than spending a lot of money on a huge water tank and long pipe run, it might be more efficient to buy some IBC totes to store non-potable water and a small stainless steel tank for potable water.
- Non-potable water storage could combine several sources, like rainwater, that neighbor's well, and even the stream if filtered and treated with chlorine. IBC totes could handle this easily.
- Potable water is so critical to human health that maximum consideration should be given to it. A proper system with progressive filtration, UV sterilization, and thorough testing for contaminants is almost a necessity. If that is a longer term proposition, then an alternative is a small mobile water tank drawn behind a vehicle that can be filled at the community water water station and then pumped into a small potable water tank either inside the kitchen container or next to it in a freeze proof & elevated structure of some sort.
Sustainable rural water systems is a very, very important topic. I hope some experts weigh in on this so we can all learn from your forthcoming project.
The borehole would be the right option for the long term. The gravity feed is excellent redundancy, you can use flexline tubing to pipe it down to basekamp or wherever you need it, and a borehole is hardly invasive. It is expensive, though, especially with a 16kL stainless tank.
What about running a sturdy pipe from the lagoon. You repaired the floodway/gate and your neighbor seems quite amenable to your projects. The lagoon is way up hill and would easily fill a tank ( with plenty of pressure ). Alternatively. run the pipe into the existing well to insure water during the dry months. The excess water from the lagoon just runs into a stream so what difference does it makes if the overflow from the lagoon goes to the well when it's needed! If there is run off It still returns to the ground water of the area! Great Job!
I would say #3 and use solar to pump to some higher place.
i love ur stuff!
Love your videos! ❤
If you go with that solution i would suggest getting a pump big enough that you can use in the bore hole option. The well seems like a good solution for now but i have a feeling you will need the bore hole. Great video as always!
Look into a RAM pump from the creek to push water uphill.
That tank will outlive you and your great grandchildren.
thank you for laying in the hole in the road
I know this is really old so youre not going to take this suggestion, but I probably would have gotten a secondary normal metal tank perhaps. That can be used for non drinking water related stuff (bathing, cleaning stuff like tools, clothes, etc, watering plants), especially with how global warming is going to go, theres a good likelyhood youre going to face some droughts. Having more water storage that wont dry off might be a good idea.
Ooh I think I heard the snelweg (highway)
why wouldn't you just use a Bunyip or ram pump to pump from the creek? you know there is water there, instead of the gamble on the borehole?
"It's good for the water tank to have a good view" 😂🤣 made my day 👍
Wkwkkkkk
such good neighbors. :)
€3000 for a borehole is a great deal. it's common in the western US for a 100m borehole to cost $30k, even if the driller doesnt hit water. €5k for pump and plumbing in a shallow well is not accurate. you can do it for under €1k. and you didnt discuss three other ways to get water: haul with truck; collect from surface flow; collect from air via hydropanel or fog net.
Have your engineers calculate how high the dam would need to be raised to provide you year round water 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Connect a long hose pipe to that natural spring tap in the village. They won't mind.
Great decision
It seems rainwaterharvesting would make sense too.
to hot in metal, you should buy a concrete container, that keeps your water good
I'm sure with guttering and down pipes the solar array would supply enough rain water to fill a tank.
You could also check out rainwater catchment tanks with the eves trough to catch it
So what was the dominant species of tree before the big forest fires? Quercus maybe? I don't think much of the eucalyptus because they are not meant for Europe (they are from Australia). Their roots go so deep they lower the water table and produce all that highly combustible biomass (leaves and bark).
My PVC tank is over 20 years old and still going strong.
I think we have to request a permit for drilling and getting water
Well you found
Wij wonen nu 5 jaar in Bulgarije. Wij hebben er ook over gedacht om een boorgat te laten boren maar dat is duur verder we weten niet hoe diep ze water vinden dat was in ons geval ergens tussen 100 en 150 meter. We hebben toen besloten om het niet te doen. We hebben hier wel leidingwater maar om in de warme zomer maanden de tuin te irriteren dat is duur. We hebben wel andere oplossingen gevonden regenwater opslag en groente en fruit dat niet zoveel water nodig heeft. Onze boomgaard die we aangelegd hebben de bomen hebben alleen de eerste 2 jaar na aanplant irrigatie nodig.
Ik zou proberen dat stukje land met waterput te kopen van buren. Het is nooit goed om je afhankelijk van iemand te maken. Wat als jullie ooit ruzie krijgen met de buren of als er een andere eigenaar komt?
Veel succes, Groetjes uit Bulgaria
im not sure you actually need the heavy machinery for a well. In the Netherlands you can order a manual drill 13m for around 135 euro. No idea whether you'd expect to hit rocks while drilling but if it's only sand it might be an option
You should run a string along your border so you know exactly where your property line is.
have you looked at the Bunyip Pump..no electricity needed..it seems it needs a nearby stream. Thanks for you videos.
Maybe use a Ram pump to pump the water from the little river to the top of the mountain
Lol 3:20 "they don't rust" and there's clearly spots of rust there too. Yes stainless will rust under certain conditions hehe lol
Water is very important in a farm
Why don't you put it on a pedestal you build from large 8"X8" posts. 10 feet high should provide enough gravity. Place it near your containers.
or just on top of a container ;P
The metal ones kinda look like old brewing vats. PVC are fine if you paint them, or burry. The UV is the big issue. I do not know what the material origins for PVC tanks where you are; but here in aus a lot are recycled.
thanks nice
Wouldnt put the tank near the eucalyptus theyre a fire waiting to happen. Australia & California have them and prone to bushfires if not managed well. Plus you will have to bury the pipe to avoid getting damaged by fire. Put the bore and tank near the main housing area - have electricity and gasoline pumping systems for fire, watering etc You can have a smaller tank on a large stand or higher up.
The filtration systems you mentioned seem really expensive. I'm no expert but to my knowledge a water system on a sailing boat from salt so fresh water Is like 2000 €. With a big tank this could easily provide for a good sized household. You could just use the stream you already have. The well from the land next to you would make for a great video but would also still need filtration.
Rainwater catch is a long term solution as Base Camp builds more roof space. Water filtration is actually not that difficult or expensive with 4 fifty gal drums, gravel, sand and charcoal. I’ll try to find the link that explains how to do it.ruclips.net/video/kazEAzGWuIc/видео.html
Torre is just the highest mountain on mainland Portugal - Ponta do Pico is 300m higher :)
For a long term solution , it would be better to have your own. Is your neighbor able to keep long term promise?
Please consider retro fitting the Dam
general question, I'm also looking to buy a piece of land in portugal. And also would like to start by dropping 2-3 shipping containers to live from :) But I can't find anything online if you need a permit to place one. Do you need a permit to put a shipping container on your land?
For each squaremetre of roof, you get around 340 liters of water/year @ your location
That is nothing ... for a home of 5 persons I use around 300 liters of water a day...
what a great picture quality :DD
Good morning! Only 2nd time I've been 1st to comment! Really enjoying your channel. Inspiring for our property although ours is not as big or "wild". Looking great!
Where is this place? Great idea using storage tank for water.