Learn how to Make a Bunyip Water Level with Brad Lancaster

Brad Lancaster demonstrates how to make a Bunyip Water Level with a few simple tools you can find in your garage or at a local hardware store. Bunyips can help you find the high spots and low spots on your landscape- and what's the difference. Bunyips are an effective tool to use to create earthworks and rain gardens.

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Produced by Sustainable World Media: Jill Cloutier, Carol Hirashima.

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[amillison]

I found it helps to just staple yard sticks to the wood stakes instead of drawing your own measurement lines in. That way you have accurate increments between the inch marks to get a more precise reading ;-)

[nbjtv]

Wow this is really easy to understand even for some who does not know much about water harvesting, this is really good staff🙏❤️

[DavidWieder]

Nice job with the measurements on the sticks.  I've used a water level for years except I crafted mine with a gallon jug as one end and a single stick to move around on the other end. The idea then is to set the jug anywhere in the project location at a height that the water will stay in the tube.  Then establish a bench mark and work your height adjustment from there.  Two quick suggestions: 1. Take the tie wrap off one of the tubes on your stick and insert it in a water container, draw on the other end with you mouth and the water will start to siphon out of the container holding the tube lower. Pick it up when full. Less mess and no air pockets. 2. Cut a dowel that is the ID of your tube to use as a plug so when moving or laying the stick down you won't lose the water.  Now go build your pyramid.

[quercusrobur]

I've found that its also useful to add some kind of dye to the water as this makes it easier to see the water level in the clear tube. On permaculture courses where we've constructed a bunyip with either used food colouring or improvised by using coffee powder. Cheers Graham

[edwinvillatoro]

I used this to build a house when i was younger. Very accurate. 

[COMBRICO]

Best video I have seen on the subject thus far.

[healthyrootsstrongwings]

Great teaching skills! Very enjoyable and easy to digest :)

[twoZJs]

Color the water by running into mama's kitchen and get the blue/red/green food color box.  Dump a good tablespoon of coloring into each tube end after you've filled the tube with the workable amount of water. It isn't necessary to have all the water in the tube colored, just keep adding color to the water as the coloring blends and  more level use.   

[Stiller.Permaculture]

Really great demonstration. Thank you.

[psbjr]

great job, thanks for this. I built a berm in my backyard and was wondering how to deal with overflow. It might be useful to have a small horizontal level atop each ruler to minimize tilt

[LLuE]

Camera angle may have contributed to what looks like an uneven level of water in your tube. The only way to be sure that there is no interferance with the level is to squeeze the tubes against each other at the comparison point, so the level can be compared exactly. Be aware that 3/8" and smaller will develope a magnetic interfearance so that the level can be differant. larger sizes can do the same thing but highly unlikely with 3/4"

[bergziv]

Great video! I'm going to build one with your instructions. Thanks.

[Shyam-ymem]

The marking should be from bottom and only the region that going to be used (from waist high to eye level ) needs to be marked. Put both the poles flat on the floor against wall corner to ensure 90 degrees in both directions. Better to mark 0.25 inches (smaller sized marking & different color) for better accuracy.

[hollister]

Is the stake that reads 22 inches actually 10 inches higher than the one that reads 12? I would think it would only be 5 inches difference, or HALF what your "stake difference" is. If you start with two stakes at "17", like you show, and then lift one of them up 5 inches, the reading on one stake the water will move down from 17 to 12, and the other side the water will move up from 17 to 22.

[ScopedOUT]

Can you show us a visual of how this actually works using a 3D diagram?

[myleatherjacket]

@insipidtoast Water seeks it's own height no matter how the tubing is held up, builders use these just as accurate as laser levels

[LLuE]

On page 342 of your book is an error in the relationship of a straight up pole versus one that is leaning,   the leaning pole reading will always have a  higher(longer) number reading than the verticle pole because it's relative to the hypotanuse of a right triangle.    I've seen the units with 5/8"i.d. vinyl tube in the neighbor hood of 600 feet long,   regards 

[spfpda]

could you explain me how to level 2ha rice field using water level

[ASYR]

hey biggs. this is so cool... jk. why are we watching this?

[kareystone]

the lake will always be level which means flat...