water dye

[scottishjohn]

Hi looking for a non toxic water dye to trace where my stream is coming from --suspect its from an old quarry ruther up the hill

but it willeventually run into my lake in the quarry  and then to the sea 

the quarry lake is full  of fish 

Edited May 10, 2020 by scottishjohn

[PeterW]

This stuff is fine - non toxic

 

https://www.bes.co.uk/drain-tracing-dye-200g-yellow-3591

[Carrerahill]

9 hours ago, scottishjohn said:

Hi looking for a non toxic water dye to trace where my stream is coming from --suspect its from an old quarry ruther up the hill

but it willeventually run into my lake in the quarry  and then to the sea 

the quarry lake is full  of fish 

Milk. It was the water dye of choice for years. 

[Carrerahill]

9 hours ago, PeterW said:

This stuff is fine - non toxic

 

https://www.bes.co.uk/drain-tracing-dye-200g-yellow-3591

The datasheet for that stuff states: Environmental precautions – Do not allow to contaminate water courses

[ProDave]

Food colouring?

[Carrerahill]

9 hours ago, scottishjohn said:

Hi looking for a non toxic water dye to trace where my stream is coming from --suspect its from an old quarry further up the hill

but it will eventually run into my lake in the quarry  and then to the sea 

the quarry lake is full  of fish 

I assume it must spring up from a water hole further down the hill rather than just form at the old quarry? 

[Russell griffiths]

29 minutes ago, Carrerahill said:

Milk. It was the water dye of choice for years. 

Milk is a major pollutant to aquatic life. 

[joe90]

Dowsing ?

[Carrerahill]

5 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

Milk is a major pollutant to aquatic life. 

Only in large volumes, he only needs a cupful, it's not going to deplete the oxygen of an entire quarry or loch. 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Carrerahill

[SteamyTea]

Don't they use radioactive isotopes for tracing this sort of thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_tracer

[A_L]

15 hours ago, scottishjohn said:

non toxic water dye

 

methylene blue? - I used to use it a concentration so dark as to make the colours of a fish I was using it to treat 'whitespot' for indistinguishable.  

[joe90]

15 hours ago, scottishjohn said:

Hi looking for a non toxic water dye to trace where my stream is coming from

being a  devils advocate ?, isn’t dye fir finding out where water goes, not comes from? . I still think dowsing is you’re best bet (Just don’t nick her clothes hanger!).

Edited May 11, 2020 by joe90

[scottishjohn]

I know where its going-

It was old water supply to my house -thenthe mian flow after the interception tank runs across the corut yard in a stone channel -under my road  then  cascades down the quarry side into the lake,then runsout of the bottom end under main road to the sea 

 and yes i have considered hydro power by raising the level of the lake -dead easy to raise it 8m  and get a 25m drop --but that is not my main concern at this time 

 If and when quarry is sold it will not be mine 

what i want to know is where it comes from

it enters my property through a stone dyke  and there are 2 small disused quarrys up hill from me which never dry up and never seem to alter much in level 

I am told by old locals that they gave up quarrying them cos it was too hard to keep them dry --but that would be in the early 1800,s

so they just dug somewhere else where water was not as much a problem 

so the idea is to add dye to one quarry at a time and see which it comes from 

I have found a plastic 32mm pipe on other side of quarry --on the glebe side which is laid on the surface and of course has split at a joiner,frost ? ,used for quarry things  I suspect --It has been running for years as far as i can tell

so if this is fed from same quarry --then I will have enough water for my supply 

something else thart is strange no one can ever remember the  lake being frozen!!--maybe water coming out of rock very low down in the quarry walls  -so relativly warm?--yet another thing to investigate

still have not had a boat on it yet to plumb the depth -locals have lots of ideas  varying from 20m to 40m in parts-

[joe90]

Have you had the water tested to confirm it’s fit for consumption without treatment?

[scottishjohn]

1 minute ago, joe90 said:

Have you had the water tested to confirm it’s fit for consumption without treatment?

 UV will be minimum-but might need some other treatment 

I know of one aboout 15 miles away near gatehouse that was showing small arsenic content -but a filter of some sort may it ok

that will be next on list once i am happy with source and flow

Edited May 11, 2020 by scottishjohn

[joe90]

Oh how I wish I had a water source fir hydro or consumption!

[SteamyTea]

Depending on the ground, you may find that there is a vegetation line that quite predominant.  Have a look on Google Earth, may have to look at some of the older images to get the season right.

1 hour ago, joe90 said:

Oh how I wish I had a water source fir hydro or consumption!

You are in an ideal position for a wind turbine, and you have enough room to put up a 2 MW one in your paddock, a few hundred tonnes of concrete would cure the boggy ground as well.

Edited May 11, 2020 by SteamyTea

[Pete]

13 hours ago, joe90 said:

Oh how I wish I had a water source fir hydro or consumption!

Found this on our land when working one day. Originally it was paved over to create an area to operate the hand pump of which you can see the wall attachment in the last photo. After quite a bit of uncovering the paving (soil and debris) I realised I was standing on top of a large hole!! The suction tube was still in the hole and I managed to get it out by lifting and wedging in the wall as I withdrew it.

I have now continued the wall up and will fit this piece of metal grid when I have shaped it. It is a lovely thing and is about 6/7 metres deep.