Phase 3 · Main lot · Lafayette landscaping

Irrigation & Well Pump

Bare-bones drip irrigation off the existing well, with a new pump

Overview

Water comes from the existing well on the property. The well casing and bore stay as-is; a new pump goes in to replace the current one. Everything downstream of the pump is a simple gravity-and-pressure drip system: pressure tank, filter, mainline, zone manifold, and ¼ in drip lines to each tree, shrub, and bed.

This phase is intentionally minimal. No greywater, no rainwater capture, no smart-controller automation in the first pass — just a clean, reliable drip backbone that the planting in Phase 2 can rely on.

System components

Component	Notes
Existing well	Keep as-is. Confirm static water level, recovery rate (gpm), and casing diameter before sizing the pump. A 5–10 gpm sustained recovery is plenty for this lot.
New pump	Submersible pump if the well is deeper than ~25 ft to water; shallow-well jet pump otherwise. Target: ½–¾ HP, 10–15 gpm at 40–60 psi. Stainless wet end (well water often has minerals/iron).
Pressure tank	20–30 gallon bladder tank near the pump (or in a small utility enclosure). Keeps the pump from short-cycling. Pressure switch typically set 40 psi cut-in / 60 psi cut-out.
Sediment + iron filter	Inline cartridge filter (5 micron) after the pressure tank. Iron filter optional — add if a water test shows > 0.3 ppm iron, otherwise drip emitters will clog.
Backflow preventer	Required by code where irrigation tees off potable supply. Single-check valve at minimum; reduced-pressure backflow assembly if locally required.
Mainline	¾ in or 1 in poly pipe from the pump house out to the lot. Bury 12 in down under the driveway transitions; surface or shallow-bury along the lot perimeter under the planting band cap.
Zone manifold	Four to six manual ball valves (one per zone) at a single hub near the south or east edge of the lot. Manual is fine for the first season; add a simple battery timer per zone if you want set-and-forget watering.
Drip lines	½ in poly sub-mainline → ¼ in drip line with pressure-compensating emitters (1–2 gph). Each fruit tree gets 4–6 emitters at the drip line. Bridge shrubs get 2 emitters. Guild perennials share a soaker loop within each tree's mulch ring.

Zones

Group the drip system into independent zones so each can be tuned (or shut off) separately. Five zones is the natural fit for this lot:

North band trees — T1 Apple + T2 Pear + T14 Loquat + T17 Hachiya
West band trees — T4 Mulberry + T5 Plum + T6 Peach + T7 Apricot + T8 Jujube + T3 Fuyu
East band trees — T9 Fig + T10 Pomegranate + T11 Olive + T12 Lemon + T13 Mandarin
South corners + east wall trellis — T15 + T16 Cornelian cherries, plus the east-wall blackberry, grape, fan-trained fig
Lawn — pop-up spray or rotor heads on a separate valve, fed off the same mainline

Each tree zone runs 30–45 min, 2–3× per week in summer once trees are established. Lawn runs on its own schedule.

Build order

Get the well tested — water quality (iron, hardness, bacteria), static level, recovery rate. Quote a pump installer with those numbers in hand.
New pump, pressure tank, filter, backflow installed at the pump house.
Trench/lay the mainline from pump to the lot. Pressure-test before burying.
Build the zone manifold at the hub.
Run ½ in sub-mainlines to each planting zone before the topsoil cap goes down — pin them where the tree positions will be so the cap covers them.
After planting (Phase 2), attach ¼ in drip and emitters at each tree.
Run the system for a full cycle; check every emitter, look for leaks, adjust zone run times.