permaculture

[Suraj Kumar <suraj@sunson.in>]

Aloha,

I've been thinking about having a pond water pumping out mechanism. As
I mentioned in another thread recently, I just constructed a small
pond. The deepest point of the pond is 22 ft down. The "head" to pump
out will be roughly 40 ft in all (22 ft + a raised platform + a small
shelther and a water tank above the shelter).

In India, electricity is free for the farmer. However, I don't want to
be dependent on the government. Secondly, maybe its not really needed.
Maybe I can learn to live simply without electricity? So the only need
as I see it right now is to pump up water with as little energy as
possible. I'll be okay with a slow rate of pumping provided I can fill
up the overhead tank (2000 litres capacity) once in every 2 days.

I considered solar + wind combo as eventually unsustainable. The only
wise option seems to be to use cattle power. I'm looking for practical
designs I can start with. I have 6 more months to build it up before
the summer starts... but I'm clueless and I need your help :)

So what do you guys typically do to pump out water from a pond? Tell
me atleast one of you have solved this trivial issue in a  _truly_
permaculture way :)

  -Suraj

-- 
"The Greatest Shortcoming of the Human Race is
our Inability to Understand the Exponential Function"
Dr. Albert Bartlett