I’d like to install drip irrigation in our backyard which is a sloping hill. However, the water outlet is at the base of the hill. Do I need a pump to move water up to the top of the hill?
Yes, you will need a pump to push the water up hill. One can automate to turn on the pump with a timer product, and turn off.
I would recommend getting a commercial water pump that can handle that distance, grade, and the necessary amount of watering for your garden.
If you are thinking about DIY, one can add a number of awesome add-ons:
Flow value/regulator that records amount of water being pushed up hill
Moats around your garden (on top of the hill), directed downhill towards a collection cistern.
Soil sensors (Arduino)
Best of luck!
You will need a pump to push the water up
Yes, drip irrigation is very common on slopes of varying sizes. Drip irrigation is operated at a much lower pressure than overhead sprays. Typically you must use pressure reducers to lower the pressure enough to be safe for most drip systems. When you have a significant slope involved, the slope may be of help in naturally reducing the pressure. A typical service line pressure at the meter is around 60-80 psi. You want to run drip at 40-30 psi. You lose .433 psi per foot of elevation. So if you had a slope that has an elevation of 100 ft and your service line’s point of connection has 80 psi, you would have approximately 35 psi at the top of the slope, not factoring in friction loss. Of course a 100ft slope (elevation, not length) is a very large slope. So in most cases, yes you can run drip without any kind of pump on a slope.
If the slope is very high, I would recommend staggering multiple valves laterally in levels from top to bottom if you plan to have the valves at the bottom of the slope. This way you can run no pressure regulators near the top and as you get lower on the slope, you introduce pressure regulators. This way a single drip zone isn’t experiencing very high pressure at the bottom in order to keep the pressure high enough at the top.