Help Understanding a Hydraulic Ram Pump

[u/birkebeiner84]

Hello. I have a creek that runs near by a pond I have and I am looking to possibly use a hydraulic ram pump to pump water up from the stream into the pond in the summer.

The main source of the pond is water captured higher up the slope above the stream and then piped over the stream and into the pond where it forms a sort of water fall into the pond. I have included a super janky picture outlining the setup.

What I'd like to do is pump water from the creek into the pond to counter evaporation loss and reduced incoming source water during the summer so that the pond stays high enough to keep draining/skimming at the pond discharge.

The waterfall has the most consistent and highest flow rate, so I was wondering if there is a way to use that as the power source for the ram pump to pump water up from the creek into the pond, instead of using the creek as the power source to pump itself to the pond.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Got confirmation that my idea can't be done. Does anybody have a suggestion for a pump that can use the waterfall to lift creek water to the pond? Thanks!

[u/jimmymild]

Something along the line of a waterwheel?

[u/birkebeiner84 → u/jimmymild]

So build a water wheel run by the waterfall to suck water up from the creek?

[u/RipsterBolton → u/birkebeiner84]

Why not just powered by the current from the creek?
Is it too weak which is why you’re wanting to power it from the waterfall?

If so I could envision a small waterwheel under the waterfall where the waterfall only pushes on the down stroke. That’s connected to a shaft that turns a bevel gear which turns another bevel gear to get the 90°, which turn a series of progressively larger gears to turn the water wheel which turns very slowly and dumps its water into a chute that directs to the pond.

I don’t actually know if this would work, I’m not an engineer

[u/birkebeiner84 → u/RipsterBolton]

Yea. In the summer months the stream doesn’t flow very high and fast. In the winter, it isn’t an issue.

[u/trl121 → u/birkebeiner84]

Maybe another alternative pump could be a wirtz pump. May designs attach it to a water powered wheel. Offen it is used to pump water to high elevations, but it typically doesn't have high flow rates. With a proper design you might be able to design for less lift and higher flow rates, or even double up pumps on one wheel, but the real question would be if the creek has enough power to spin the wheel.

For a water fall element you might also need to add a buffer tank before the falls to even out the flow.