Mud will kill a pump. You need a filter on the inlet, and you should always have the pump suspended in the water off the creek bed (either with a buoy or by hanging into the creek from a wire that is attached to another wire strung between two posts, one on either side of the creek). Hope this helps.

Yep, we've made a new arrangement that keeps the pump out of the mud better. It's still not perfect since the creek isn't deep enough to allow the pump inlet to be more than a few inches off the bottom, but hopefully it'll help.

I'm in the process on trying to figure out how to irrigate from my creek. My main question is: why did you choose to use a submersible well pump? Did you consider pumps closer to the garden/house that sucks up creek water via a long hose? Thanks!

Dave V --- The creek is a good distance away and downhill from our garden, which means we had to pay attention to pressure to ensure we still had some when the water got to where it was going. After some research, we discovered that submersible pumps give you more pressure in that situation, and the sump pump types just aren't powerful enough to get water up our hill. (Sump pumps would really have been more appropriate, though, if we could have used them, since they're made to handle the bit of debris that inevitably ends up in the creek.)

A non-submersible pump that sucks water rather than pushing water generally only operates if you don't have much vertical distance to cover. So, your first step should be to measure both the vertical and horizontal distance you want to move water, then use those numbers as you're researching your pump. Good luck!