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[DavesWorld]

Ok, so I embarked in a desert map with a volcano.  There was a single murky pool that was *just* enough water to flood four 5x5 farm plots.  So in year two I dug down and found the first cavern layer, only to find it (unlike the other four embarks I've played with since I came back in the 31.x era) doesn't have a lot of water.  Because it's a desert I don't have anything approaching enough wood; I'm making barrels and bins out of lead and such since I don't even have all the beds made I need yet.  The 2nd dwarven caravan just came back with a very small amount of wood despite my max priority request for it.

So a power plant with windmills (definitely) is out, and I don't think there's enough water down there to 'waste' on a perpetual motion plant (plus I'd have to use up 4x3, at least, logs on the wheels).

So I carved out a pump stack between the water and where I want the well reservoir to be, connecting the top of the stack with a channel that will feed and drop into the reservoir once water reaches that level.  The stack is nearly 30 Z-levels high ... if I put dwarves on every level manually pumping, will I be able to fill the well?  My thought is to turn off all labors except pumping on enough dwarves plus extras, then set all the pumps to manual when everything's ready.

Any !!Scientists!! able to offer some reassurance or corrections?  Thanks in advance.

[gtmattz]

As long as all the pumps are being manned it will work just fine.  Probably wont be as efficient what with dwarves running off and getting drinks etc causing pumps to be down occasionally, but it will get the water to the top.

[FleshForge]

Side note, since you're in desert you should have a lot of sand tiles, and if you dig out a large area, cavern trees SHOULD start sprouting there without requiring watering. I think sand is one of the types of soil that works correctly in this respect.  That should solve your wood shortage, and give you some miscellaneous stuff to distill/eat to boot.

[DavesWorld]

Not working so well, either I need catch basins on each level of the stack (and there's not room), or  ....

With temperature off, can one run a perpetual motion machine using lava as the fluid?   

[gtmattz]

Lava wont work.

Have you checked if your water in the caverns touches the edge?  If it does then you have infinite water and there is no worry about running out and you can go ahead with some kinda reactor plan (I suggest using the compact reactor design from the wiki, it works well and is quite efficient when it comes to water usage)

[Quietust]

Side note, since you're in desert you should have a lot of sand tiles, and if you dig out a large area, cavern trees SHOULD start sprouting there without requiring watering. I think sand is one of the types of soil that works correctly in this respect.

It has nothing to do with the soil type and everything to do with what's underneath the soil - if there's unmined soil walls underneath, then cave shrubs and trees will start sprouting even when dry, otherwise (if it's mined out or if it's solid stone) nothing at all will grow unless you apply mud.