(please click on the picture for the sound of the stream)
The trip up to the trees begins as water enters from the stream into the pump. It is a powerful dance, an energetic whirl from one pump section to the next until finally it flies into the pipe... at several feet per second and at about 180 pounds per square inch.
The pump has to push against two things. The first is the weight of the water . The higher it has to be pushed vertically, the more power the pump has to have. The second is friction. This friction is created as the water shoves and jostles it's way through the pipes and fittings on it's way up the hill; this loss to friction increases when the pipe is longer and when it is narrower. It also increases when the water is being pumped more quickly. This can be really important because the loss to friction can increase dramatically as the water moves faster. Over a long length of pipe, the rush of water can slow to a mere dribble simply because the water is being pumped too quickly for the size of the pipe
All this was worked out...