A drain can carry water without lowering the table.
If the drain and receiving water sit too high, the surrounding profile remains wet after surface water has moved. Screening starts with the resting level — not just the puddle you can see.
Farm application
Future-proofing your existing drainage.
Work with the drains you have. Assess whether a Water Siphon could reach retained water, carry it past an obstacle and make better use of a lower receiving level.
From water within the paddock to the conditions at the outlet.
Illustrative soil cutaway: paired spear intakes connect to a shared pipe. The blue-green saturated zone recedes and the warmer, less-saturated soil above it expands; the pipes and soil structure stay fixed.
Start within the paddock.
An optional way to collect groundwater.
Where ground conditions suit, distributed spear intakes can collect water below the surface and feed a shared pipe. They are one intake option—not a requirement for every Water Siphon installation.
- Collection medium
- Permeable material surrounds the intake.
- Lower intake
- Water enters through openings near the bottom of the straw.
- Shared pipe
- Connects the intakes to the Water Siphon route.
Wet soil is more vulnerable to stock and machinery.
When the soil has less air and bearing capacity, stock and machinery can damage the surface while the profile recovers slowly. Lowering resting groundwater is a condition to test, not a promise of dry ground in every storm.
The complete route still needs a lower receiving water level and engineering checks. The intake detail alone does not establish how far or how quickly the surrounding groundwater will fall.
Make use of the available outlet.
Already have floodgates? Check what still holds water.
A floodgate can prevent backflow yet leave water held in internal drains. A Water Siphon may add extraction points and carry that water over a rise to lower receiving water during suitable tidal windows. Neither system creates a lower receiving level; the added role depends on the site.
Compare the route, power and upkeep.
Where receiving water is lower, a closed pipe can cross a road, stopbank or rise. The Water Siphon’s active hydraulic primer maintains prime without an external electrical supply for normal operation. A pump station may still be the right fit: compare the complete route, installation, maintenance and operating costs.
The Water Siphon is not a universal replacement for gravity drains or pump stations. It is worth screening where a measurable water-level difference exists and the route can be engineered.
Bring these four details to the first screen.
A useful conversation starts with levels and route, not a catalogue of hardware. Gather the conditions below, then let the calculator show what the water-level difference can support.
Resting groundwater
Where does the water sit in the profile before the next event?
A measured or defensible starting level.
Receiving water
What lower level is available, and through which operating window?
Stage range matters; one low reading is not a design case.
Route and crest
How far, how high, and what must the line cross?
Length, diameter, rise, road or stopbank, access and structure all affect feasibility.
Problem to change
What is costing the block time or access?
Pugging, compaction, slow recovery or pump burden should be described separately from the proposed solution.
The calculator is an early hydraulic screen, not a site design. Survey, losses, transients, intake and discharge, structure, maintenance and consenting still need engineering review.
A useful next step
See the numbers for yourself.
Enter the water-level difference and approximate route in the full site calculator. It will return a screening result and show which measurements need to be tightened before design.