Manzanita Ridge has been using hydraulic ram pumps to achieve its water needs for the last 5 years.  Water is piped from a settling tank at a miniature pond in a ravine at 1860’ elevation down to the hydraulic ram which sits at an elevation of 1740’.  There is approximately 5 gallons/minute of water flowing in this 100’ line with approximately 120’ of vertical head.  The ram then pumps approximately 1/5 of this water or 1 gallon per minute up to an elevation of 2050’, approximately 190’ above the waters source at the miniature pond.  This provides approximately 1200’ gallons of water for agricultural and domestic use by way of gravity feed from the tanks (4000 gallons of water storage) at elevation 2050’ to the point of use at 2000’ feet elevation. 

This water is used by an average of 3 people for domestic use year round and to water 40 chickens, ducks and turkeys, 1 dog, 4 goats and 20,000 lbs per year of vegetable and fruit production.

The miniature pond is fed by a small spring producing at total of 20 gallons/minute year round of which only 5 gallons per minute are piped. 

The extra 4 gallons of water that are delivered to the ram and are not pumped up to the tanks at the top of the hill are released into the free flowing stream at the rams location.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60800491@N07/5540681855/
origin of water - 1860’

Hydraulic Ram - 1740’

Upper Water Storage Tanks - 2050’

This is by far the best water pumping system that has been developed for use at Manzanita Ridge.  It uses no external energy, pumps 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and requires very little maintenance.  The only maintenance that is required is occasional cleaning of the filter at the ram itself. 

THe impact is that 20,000 lbs of fruits and vegetables as well as various animal products are produced every year with no economic or environmental costs for water pumping.  This is an exciting prospect for anyone pumping water in a mountainous environment.

Research trials need to be performed in order to determine if the hydraulic ram technology is feasible for use on a larger scale, such as for whole municipalities.  The predominant use of these systems will remain small scale agriculture projects and small human communities.  Because of the nature of this water pumping technology it is most suited for use in the mountains and foothills of the world.  Often the people who live in these regions are ‘rural’ dwellers who do not have access or who have limited access to the internet.  For this reason outreach methods must be devised to reach the people who could benefit from the use of hydraulic ram pumps with the information and materials they need to employ this technology. 

Note: Here in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in rural California the main obstacles to use of this technology are:
  -cheap electrical and fossil fuel energy currently used for pumping water
  -reluctance to change behavior because of cultural biases towards fossil fuel based technologies
We do not suffer a lack of access to the internet but must find ways to get around the obstacles listed above in order to employ hydraulic ram technologies and move towards more sustainable human communities and agriculture.