Congressional Edition Volume 6006 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 Excerpt: ...of piping connecting the wells. Since it is necessary to construct several wells in order to obtain the quantity of water required for an irrigation plant it becomes important to consider the best and most economical arrangement of the wells. In the Republican River valley perhaps the best method 400 200 150 10 20 30 40 50 60 DISTANCE BETWEEN WELLS, IN FEET Figure 29.--Relations of three wells in the Arkansas Valley. is to sink a battery of three or four wells and connect them by suction pipes to the pump. These wells should be arranged in a line and placed 20 to 30 feet apart, with the pump near the middle of the line. Figure 29 represents in a rough way the interference of three wells with different spacing and shows why the wells should not be placed nearer together than 20 to 30 feet. If the water plane is lowered the same amount at all times, say 10 feet below the normal position, and the three wells are placed so far apart that there is no interference, their total yield will be 450 gallons a minute. If the wells are 40 feet apart, the yield will drop down to 425 gallons; if 30 feet apart to 420 gallons; if 20 feet apart to 415 gallons; and for a nearer spacing than 20 feet the yield would be considerably lessened. The construction of a plant having four wells is given in figure 30. SELECTION AND INSTALLATION OF PUMPS. It does not pay to purchase any but the best machinery for pumping, as poorly designed and poorly constructed plants eventually prove very expensive. Probably the most satisfactory pump for use in irrigation is the centrifugal pump. It should be remembered, however, that there are on the market a great many kinds of small centrifugal pumps, which are designed for a great many purposes. The centrifugal pump used by the irrigator should b...