How to gather water from a trickle stream?

[bushcraftlearner83729]

There is a tiny vein of water on the land.

It seems like it is a real vein, not just some run off, or at least not transient run off, as it has rocks at the mouth and when I dug down there are large clay deposits. Clay means water for a long time right?

How can I gather, say, 10 litres in my container at a time? Today I tried to dam it with the clay that is there and so far when I last checked after having been working around and checking back on it, it was about to wrist depth. I could now jug it into a container.

What is the common bushcraft, or other, wisdom for doing this? Not sure what to look up really as mostly it will either be for grabbing water for one offs when camping or gathering from fast running streams.

I will note I will also be filtering it after with british berkefeld so not to make concern there. The gathering is my current issue.

 

[TeeDee]

An Indian well is a hole dug about 18 inches across and down about 6 inches below water-level, a few paces from a pond or swamp1. It is used to obtain pure water when there is no other source available. In contrast, a stepwell is a well or pond with a long corridor of steps that descend to the water level, and played a significant role in defining subterranean architecture in western India from 7th to 19th century2.
Learn more:

 

[oldtimer]

Clean towel or similar. Put in water till soaked. Wring out into wide mouthed container. Repeat.

I learnt this the hard way during a hot day in the foothills of the Pyrenees

 

[crosslandkelly]

You could dig a gypsy well beside the stream, and allow it to fill naturally. The water also gets a degree of filtering too.

 

[bushcraftlearner83729]

Clean towel or similar. Put in water till soaked. Wring out into wide mouthed container. Repeat.

I learnt this the hard way during a hot day in the foothills of the Pyrenees

Lol, I am looking for more than that and on a regular basis. Not a 'when all else fails' but rather a regular solution for land I own. Would take a lot of soaking and wringing to get 10 litres to fill the container.

Probably should have posted in homesteading. Forgot about that subforum!

 

[bushcraftlearner83729]

You could dig a gypsy well beside the stream, and allow it to fill naturally. The water also gets a degree of filtering too.

Why would digging it beside, rather that damming the main flow, be preferable?

 

[crosslandkelly]

Why would digging it beside, rather that damming the main flow, be preferable?

I don't know if it would be preferable in your situation, you asked for ideas and I gave you one. Gypsy wells are a known way to collect water.

 

[haptalaon]

I don't know for sure, but stagnant water is dangerous in a way flowing water is not. Perhaps damming a flow to create a pool tempts one to drink from the stagnant water whereas if you've made an ad hoc well next to the flow, you're actively emptying the hole as it fills and the water never stagnates. Maybe?

 

[Herman30]

Too bad these pumps aren´t sold anymore, I bought one just to get water from streams hard to reach or to get water from trickle stream.

 

[Falstaff]

I have seen an army instructor gather a thin stream of water off rocks by using a t shirt as a wick, one end spread over the rock, the other end twisted into a loose rope put into a 20 gall container. I was suprised at how well it worked.
So if you dig a hole deep enough for a container, below the rock you mentioned, then you could do the same. No wringing out the cloth involved.

 

[Falstaff]

I've made a water collecting wick into a bottle using the same technique. The intention and design is to clip it to a tarp edge to divert & catch the water off the tarp. The first test using a dripping tap proved the principle works. Next is to try it on a tarp, but I'm still working on the bottle suspension detail.