Water Wells Richard Perez What do you do when the creek stops running and the springs go dry? Drill for water! Drilling a water well is a cross between praying in church and high stakes poker in Las Vegas. Drilling is a high stress, big risk undertaking. Here's how to avoid some of the potential mistakes. The Rules The rules of the well game are simple. Pick a well site, hire a driller, pay lotsa money, and hope to hit enough water. If the well produces enough water, then you win and can go immediately to the pumping/storage stage. If the well is dry, it still costs the same to drill as a wet hole. The only option is to drill again in another site. Once the well comes in, then the water must be pumped from the well. Basic physics determines the rules of water transfer from well to usage point. In this area, we stand a fighting chance of seeing our work and money realized. Every well, water system, location, and water need is different. I am interested here in not making expensive mistakes during the potentially disastrous drilling phase. Determine your water needs Ä how many gallons a day do you need? An idea of how much water you need and your checkbook are the only things you need to start. The Well Site Find and use all the data that you can collect about water wells in your area. Any close neighbor with a water well can provide valuable information. Wells are registered in most counties. These records are public. The big questions are how deep and how much water. Some folks use a dowser to locate water. I have no hard knowledge about their veracity, but I figure well drilling is a gamble and data is data. Take a good look at your local terrain. Wells on hilltops are generally less productive and deeper than wells in canyons. Unless your area has a history of artesian (naturally pressurized) wells, a pump will be necessary. The location and depth of the well, specifically the entire vertical distance that the water must be pumped, directly determines the cost of the pumping system. The higher you have to pump the water, the more the pump will cost and the more power it will consume. Pumping the well is not the determining factor in locating the well. Finding water is the idea here Ä finding enough water at a depth that is both affordable to drill and pump. Finding a driller... Most counties require a permit to drill any type of well. Without this permit, no licensed or bonded operator will drill your well. The first question any driller asks is, "Do you have a permit?" Cost is about $50. The permit has minimum specifications for the proposed well. For example, most counties exclude ground water from the well. This means a steel casing from ground level to a depth of 25 to 50 feet. Discuss your specific well plans with a number of local drillers. Ask your neighbors what company drilled their wells and were they happy with the driller. Check the Yellow Pages. The driller will want to know what diameter well you want, how you want the well cased and lined, and where you want it drilled. Most drillers work this way. The following info pertains to a six inch diameter well, lined with 4 inch diameter poly pipe. A 4 inch diameter liner is the smallest that will accept a solar sub pump. First there is a setup charge for moving the drilling equipment to your site and setting it up. This fee varies greatly with location. If you live miles from town, or down a bad road, then the setup cost is considerable. Look for setup costs from $200 to $1,000. The next item is drilling the hole at $12 to $20 per foot. These charges happen even if the hole comes up dry. If the hole is wet, then it is a well and must be cased and lined. Steel casing costs about $7 per foot Most wells are lined for their entire depth at a cost of about $3 per foot for ply pipe. Prepare yourself Before beginning to drill plan a firm budget for the well. Set a maximum amount to spend on drilling and be firm. Don't forget to budget the cost of setup, casing, and lining. You are entering a space and time that is more risky and seductive than high stakes poker. The temptation to drill another hundred feet is virtually irresistible. Drilling the Well The permits are stamped and the drilling rig is in place Ä the game begins. Tell your driller how deep you want him to go before beginning The drill's speed depends on what it encounters. In general, slow drilling below fifty feet is good news. It means the drill has encountered hard rock. Water is often found at hard rock boundaries. You have done your work; the rest is luck, or karma, or whatever. This is a good time to relax. Try not to constantly check how the well is going. Try not to think that each dry foot has cost about twenty bucks and you still don't have a drink of water. At a certain point, even on a high budget it becomes prudent to go no deeper. Today's solar powered submersible pumps work well up to 250 feet in depth. Solar powered jack type pumps can go 800 feet deep. Conventional 120 vac or 240 vac submersible rotary pumps will pump at 500 feet depth. If you reach these depths, still have a dry hole, and have some drilling budget left, then drill again elsewhere. The Water System A well is only part of the working water system, the most important part, but still a only one part. Water still must be pumped from the well. In solar pumping systems, the water is almost always stored in a holding tank. And if the tank has insufficient elevation, then a booster pump may be required. But all this can be accomplished with a high degree of certainty. The gambling is done. Take Heart! We recently drilled a well. When the driller quit for the weekend with a dry hole at 240 feet, there was little joy here. Monday morning and sixty feet deeper, we cheered a flow of 10 gallons per minute from the well. Total cost? A shade over six thousand dollars and easily the best money we ever spent. Access Author: Richard Perez, c/o Home Power, POB 520, Ashland, OR 97520 ù 916-475-3179