This is neat. If it didn't lose so much water, I'd try it to move my lower tank water to my pressure tank

Looking at , it seems clear that it works by letting the source water go downhill and gain momentum, then concentrating that pressure on a smaller volume of water at the bottom so that it can raise some of the water higher than the source. It dumps some of the source water at the low point. It trades some volume for increased pressure, one of the basic principles of pressure and area.

A hydraulic ram, or hydram, is a cyclic water pump powered by hydropower. It takes in water at one "hydraulic head" (pressure) and flow rate, and outputs water at a higher hydraulic head and lower flow rate.

Ram pumps are great, we've got two, a 1" ID setup and a 2"ID setup, it's a joy to hear them run and to have our water tanks fill with nothing but the creek feeding them.

I highly advise them to anyone who has the landscape to utilize them.

RAM PUMP. You need to live on a property with a) elevation chance, hopefully steep. B) water source

I looked quite deep into setting up a system like this to feed a downhill water turbine for free electricity, but the max output I've seen isn't worth the time. Theres a reason we use oil.

TLDW: He makes a siphon.

Edit: This comment is incorrect, see below.