# Wildlife water guzzlers?



## El Gato Loco

Do any of you guys have experience with wildlife water guzzlers? I am looking at setting a few up on our desert land down in Terlingua,Texas and could use some pointers.

Thanks


----------



## hassell

Beer guzzlers I do know about, wildlife ones - need a better description!!!


----------



## 220swift

http://www.wildlifewaterguzzler.com/waterguzz.pdf


----------



## hassell

220swift said:


> http://www.wildlifew...m/waterguzz.pdf


 Thanks, interesting.


----------



## 220swift

Placing these on private would not be a problem. Land owner permission and you're ready to go.

Public land here in Colorado, getting permission to do something like that would be a major issue. First step is it would require an environmental impact study. That's going to take two years and who knows how many thousands of dollars. Then public meetings, OMG the special interest groups come out of the wood work.....at this point most project die because the people that have started them are so discouraged they no longer are willing to fight the system.


----------



## 220swift

Chris, I'm assuming that you're talking about your land.......from what I've read, seems to be a good solution for water. In the desert would probably be better that feeders.


----------



## youngdon

Are you looking to store water for human consumption ? This type of tank you can get to 2500 gallons and could transport on a small trailer to your place. Rain collection would still be a different matter but eaves troughs and such would help in that. If you wanted to water the wildlife put a trough out with a float valve from the tank, it would gravity feed.

http://www.tank-depot.com/product.aspx?id=123


----------



## Mattuk

What a cool idea! Hmmm.....very interesting.


----------



## El Gato Loco

Yea they are all over SW Texas I just haven't had a chance to see one in person. Here is another link:

http://wildlife.utah...0706guzzler.pdf

I would want to design one with a float valve to limit the flow of water and I guess some sort of cover to help slow evaporation from the drinking trough. That's the main part of the design I am unclear on. I will catch the water using roof systems just like we'll catch our other water for home use.

Putting these in ares with little to no water can literally transform the property.


----------



## youngdon

Putting the trough under a mesquite tree will definitly help preferably on the north side, altghough it will need to be cleaned more often because iof all those massive leaves. A narrow trough, one specific to the wildlife you want to water will help also as will fencing it to keep cattle out (if that's legal there). Plumbing your house to separate the black water from the grey water will let you irrigate the trees around you and possibly your garden depending what goes down the drain.

How much rain does Terlingua get per year average ?


----------



## El Gato Loco

youngdon said:


> How much rain does Terlingua get per year average ?


In 2011 with the drought they got 2.5" i believe. Normally they would see anywhere from 10-30 inches.

Even with the 2.5 though, you can capture and store a decent amount of water if you have enough roof. I think it ends up being like 1500 gallons of water from 1 inch of rain on a 2500 sq ft roof. I plan to have a LOT more roof than I do house just for that reason. For the guzzler I will probably have a separate roof system just a few inches off the ground.


----------



## youngdon

How deep is the water table ?


----------



## Helmet_S

Pretty cool design. I would think that in a desert location where you are only getting 2.5" a year those small ones would dry up or be drank up pretty fast.

I wonder if a normal water storage tank buried in the ground would be better. Just quickly thinking I would suggest something like a trough and collector system that designed more like a street gutter would be very effective. I would make a simple metal pipe frame and cover it with a heavy duty tarp of some kind. Then split an 8" PVC pipe down the center length wise. use the pipe as a gutter below the tarp to direct the water into the tank. A simple small solar power pump could pump the water up and into a small trough. If you didn't want to have the pump you would use this system on the side of a hill and use a float controled valve to regulate the water flow. A small resevoir would keep evaporation to a minimum and even more so if it was facing north or shaded.

Chris is you need any help designing something let me know. I design things for a living.


----------



## JTKillough

Good idea, but I think you would need a pretty good sized roof to collect enough water to keep it going. The AZ game and fish use a simular system, but the catch roofs are enormous, upwards of fifty by fifty feet. All depends on how much rain you get. As you know, we don't get a lot of moisture around here. But this system can draw water from any moisture in the ground or morning dew. It gets the thumbs up from me, keep us posted.


----------



## Helmet_S

how in the world does it draw moisture from the ground?


----------



## JTKillough

They collect condesation from the ground during nighttime and it collects on the underside of the roof, then drips into the catchment.


----------



## loic

Helmet_S said:


> how in the world does it draw moisture from the ground?


And if one day you are stuck in the middle of nowhere in the desert, that's the easiest way to get water. All you need is large plastic sheet. Dig a hole in the ground, if there is some vegetations, break some branches/leaves etc and put them in the hole, it will speed up the amount of water. Now take a container and place it in the middle, cover the hole with the plastic, put some sand/dirt all around the edge of the plastic, put a small stone on the middle of the plastic which will be right over your container. Then wait. The moisture from the ground/branches/leaves will go onto the plastic then slowly drip to the lowest point wich is right above your container.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Helmet_S

JtKilough 
What you are saying would only be the moisture from the air that is trapped within the water enclosure itself. You wouldn't actually be getting any condensation from the ground water. All condensation from the ground water would be on the outside of the container and would thus return to the ground. The only condensation that you would really benefit from would be if there is a decent amount of moisture/dew in the air ourside/above the lid that would condense on the lid at night and eventually drain in.

Loic
You are describing is a long known and used method of collecting water by evaporation using the sun and/or air temperature to evaporate the water from either the ground or vegitation. Yes it is a very good method but slow and requires staying in one spot for hours in order to work.


----------



## JTKillough

Yeah, what he said.


----------

