This innovative water wheel pump uses a spiral tube to constantly collect water without requiring the use of electricity. 

The water is then propelled to a nearby collecting tank. Hopefully this video will give you some ideas on how to make your own water pump.

When I was in Vietnam in 1967, near Bong Son and LZ Pony, I saw a vertical water wheel about 25 ft in diameter. The current of the river made it rotate. Bundles of hollow bamboo tubes on the periphery of the wheel, acting like buckets, picked up the water, lifted it about 12 feet to the bank of the river and dumped the water into an irrigation channel. The bamboo bundles had to be fixed with the exact correct tilt to not spill the water until they were over the irrigation channel. The whole thing was made of poles and bamboo lashed together and it was running smoothly, powered by the river flow, and with no supervision when we saw it. It was so amazing we risked our lives to stop and look at it. I wonder it's still there.

This is a very slick design. It works by lifting the water in the wheel higher than the discharge pipe which is also  your rotor shaft. The amount of head or lift will be limited to just under highest point of the wheel. The larger diameter the wheel the more head (ability to pump uphill) you will achieve. For instance if your wheel is 3 feet above your shaft you will be able to pump uphill almost 3 feet. Remember if your discharge is at the same level as the top of your wheel it will not pump. Very impressive.