Basic Irrigation Setup in Ark Survival Evolved

Setting up a Water Supply in Ark Survival Evolved with irrigation pipes is simple and doesn’t cost much in resources, but there are a few crucial things to know if you have never set it up before.  The first thing you will need and is the most important is the Water Intake Pipe.  The water intake pipe is the start of the pipeline.  The intake must be placed in the water or where water is just below the surface.  I mean just below the surface.  Once you place it, and the grey stone pipe turns blue you, you are in the water business.  To get access to water or to irrigate crop plots, you will need a tap.  Water will pour from the tap and spill onto the ground, watering any crop plots within a certain radius, which covers at least four large crop plots, if you place them where they meet right under the tap.  You can also drink straight from the tap and place water skins, canteens, and water jars in the tap, and they will fill up almost instantly.  

Differences between Stone Pipe and Metal Pipe

There is no difference between metal pipes other than metal is stronger and can be damaged by fewer creatures.  Since I play PvE and try not to set up bases where tough creatures spawn, I usually only use stone pipe because it is much cheaper.  If it does get broken, it is cheap to fix.  Metal reservoirs do hold more water than stone ones.  

Metal Water Reservoirs, filled with rain, run together into a pipe intersection to water this greenhouse, and get a greenhouse effect in Ark Survival Evolved

Ark Water Intake Pipe

Water Reservoirs

Stone and metal reservoirs both fill up in the rain the main difference other than health is that metal ones hold more water.   To get access to the water, run a water pipe from the reservoir and add a tap to the end of that pipe.  The reservoirs will not empty, unless they are filling something, like water jars in the tap’s inventory, or crop plots on the ground.  It may look like they will empty since water is always flowing from tap, which just visually indicates that there is water in the connected reservoir.  Multiple reservoirs can be hooked up to one tap.  The easiest way to set that up is to use a 4-way pipe intersection and place water reservoirs on three of the ends, on the remain end place the tap.  This set up usually provides more water than you need for plants, unless you are frequently drinking from the tap.  The other exception is a very dry environment, like on Scorched Earth.   

Simple water supply setup with one stone water reservoir, one stone pipe, and one water tap.

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