Any "Well" Experts here?

[Ripon83]

We lease out some land thats been leveled and is used to grow row crops....the farmer has a 25 year lease and 15 years to go. He put in two wells (permitted) when he develope the land. I was told the water aquifers are 80 and 140 feet - I was looking for kind of a "survior / SHTF" well if I had to live on the property in such a case. Also to develop more ag uses of the space in areas. We have a lot of land, but I didn't want to apply for another permit for more water for a domestic well. If we were going to do that we'd want to do an "ag" well which is probably a lot more costly.

[Manolito]

Contact the Rancher - Farmer that had the well drilled ten years ago. There will be a report called a tailings report. This will give you a description of what was encountered while drilling the well. IE 20 feet soft clay 40 feet green granite, 60 feet gravel, 80 feet shale, 100 feet white granite with a mixture of quarts and sand etc. Then decide how to case the well probably 80 feet of steel casing and the rest could be PVC. When you get a price only settle for a wet hole pay dry hole nopay. These drillers know the area well and can probably come within 20 feet of how deep to go. How far is the rancher away and what would he charge you to buy water from him and then just install a pipeline to your property from his well install a 10K storage tank and you are good to go.
Just some thoughts. Also research the county records it is amazing how many abandoned well exist.
Bill

[brushfire21]

Being in the well industry myself, alot of the information above is good and accurate. Do a little research at the county and you can come up with some good info.

Don't be shy about calling a local contractor. We get calls all the time and we know that only a certain amount of those calls will be a paying job. But none the less, we love talking to each and everyone prospective client regardless if they are wanting to do it now or later. The earlier a buyer/homeowner starts looking into this and gets prepared, the cheaper the system usually is and they are more knowledgeable. You're not committed to anything and you will have a better idea.

The plus is that if the driller knows the area he can point out a few things. As far a dowsers go, there are some that are better than others. I am a believer in those that have established themselves in the local area and have a good tract record.

My thoughts on the "Deep Rock" and other small cheap DIY drilling rigs..... be very careful in that the soil and ground make up will depend if these can be used. If you have lotsa of rock, then you will burn money away on carbide bits and probably not go anywhere. You may need a rock hammer and lots of dril stem down pressure to break through possibly. No way you can do this with a 5hp engine and 1in "drill pipe". Aint going to happen and very likely a crooked well that you won't be able to get casing down if its needed. But if you have good soft soils with no volcanic rock, clays, gravels etc you are probably good to go.

Learn about well construction, sanitary seals (seal off the top 20-50'ft for surface water contamination) and gravel packs before you attempt. The best of intentions can lead to alot of frustrations and headaches with a little education.

Also when looking into a pump, there are solar options, windmill pumps and hand pumps and some that will allow both an electric pump and windmill options. But some of these may need a 6" or larger casing to fit the associated equipment. For shallow sets use 200psi poly pipe, two people can set a pump down to 200'ft with no problem and retrieve it without a pump derrick, meaning you can do it yourself. This is only for solar/electric pump options btw.

[The Geologist]

Just trying to learn something here and don't want to call a salesmen and get on a list to find out. I have some property in Nevada that we had surveyed for water years ago. There is already an active well that is used by a farmer we lease some of the land too. But if I had to "live" there for some bad reason and wanted a residential water well put in - how much is it? I realize how much it might be in a horrible time is more then it might be now but having the reference information now would be helpful. I also realize the permitting costs right now are another issue, but if there was a SHTF situation the permitting might be out the window (one can hope). My aquifers are 80 and 140 feet and nothing lower has ever been sought - don't even know if its there.

In working with a family member on his well - he bought his house with one already in place so I don't know what they cost. I know pumps are really quite reasonable and solar power to run those pumps is also quite reasonable. But how much to drill and set the well in place with pump? That is what I'm looking for?

Between $30 - $40 a foot. You can request to view well logs from the county if want to know the lithology in the nearby area.

[brushfire21]

That $30-$40/ft in my feeling will be drilling only. Pump, electric, solar and tank will in addition. That could be an additional $4k-$15k depending on size of pump, depth and tank plus amount of solar panels. In fact I know of several installations where the drilling was cheaper than the pump and solar system.

[colddeadhands]

I Live in Humboldt County NV, my boss just had a residential well put in for $45000. He is up on a hill and had to go 200 ft for drinking water. I live in a valley and I have water at 40 feet but my pump is at 60. I have hit water digging 4 ft hole for gates out here before.

The information you get from the farmer will help, but generally ag wells are not as deep as residential wells, because the quality of the water is not important.

From what i have read, its not too hard to get a residential well permit which will let you pump 1650 gals per day, but it is illegal to just start taking water from somewhere with out rights or a permit.

Hope this helps.

[Ripon83]

Thanks

Thank you,

$45k wow....

The only way I'd do it without a permit is if SHTF and there was no one to issue a permit. In that case, as well, I'd only want one for a personal residence for me and a few of my closest family and friends.

I Live in Humboldt County NV, my boss just had a residential well put in for $45000. He is up on a hill and had to go 200 ft for drinking water. I live in a valley and I have water at 40 feet but my pump is at 60. I have hit water digging 4 ft hole for gates out here before.

The information you get from the farmer will help, but generally ag wells are not as deep as residential wells, because the quality of the water is not important.

From what i have read, its not too hard to get a residential well permit which will let you pump 1650 gals per day, but it is illegal to just start taking water from somewhere with out rights or a permit.

Hope this helps.

[paradox]

If SHTF enough that you could avoid permits, where do you expect to get the fuel to run the drilling rig? Where do you expect to get a solar or hand pump?

If SHTF enough for a total breakdown in government, you are going to be hand digging that well.

[cruising7388]

Being in the well industry myself, alot of the information above is good and accurate. Do a little research at the county and you can come up with some good info..........

Great info! This is a keeper. You da man!

[DTOM CA!]

I saw an ad in a magazine for a "do it yourself" well digging machine. I was intrigued by the idea but it looked a little hoaky to try it yourself. It would be a good SHTF business though.

[Joewy]

That $30-$40/ft in my feeling will be drilling only. Pump, electric, solar and tank will in addition. That could be an additional $4k-$15k depending on size of pump, depth and tank plus amount of solar panels. In fact I know of several installations where the drilling was cheaper than the pump and solar system.

This is usually for drilling and casing. Not pumping equipment.

[colddeadhands]

If your only planning for SHTF I would suggest storing water you know to be drinkable, versus planning on making your own well post SHTF. I'm all for self sustenance, and being prepared for SHTF, but digging a hole in the ground for drinking water when you are not sure what you are doing could be hazardous to your health. I worked on a farm up here that has three ag wells (shallow) the drinking water has to be trucked in because the well water contains hazardous amounts of arsenic.

[BruceR]

I have a property with a 40' canyon and winter stream on one end. Since any well on my property is not allowed by county code, I'll have to get creative and have a well that's not a well. I figure I can create multiple artesian wells by drilling, umm I mean boring out, some holes sideways into the hill from a site at the bottom of the canyon. When finished, I'd plumb the multiple water feeds in to a manifold for pumping up to the house and garden. At that point, I'd have nothing illegal, just a creative use of natural drainage.

My canyon is lush year 'round. If I can get even a gallon a minute, I can pump that up into my cistern to add to my winter collection off the roof.

[Dubious_Beans]

My canyon is lush year 'round. If I can get even a gallon a minute, I can pump that up into my cistern to add to my winter collection off the roof.

One gallon per minute is 1440 gallons a day.
A family with a fair sized garden can easily live on that!

[Joewy]

If your only planning for SHTF I would suggest storing water you know to be drinkable, versus planning on making your own well post SHTF. I'm all for self sustenance, and being prepared for SHTF, but digging a hole in the ground for drinking water when you are not sure what you are doing could be hazardous to your health. I worked on a farm up here that has three ag wells (shallow) the drinking water has to be trucked in because the well water contains hazardous amounts of arsenic.

I grew up on a farm with wells. Originally we had a dug well. It was about 60 or 70 ft deep. We had a windmill pump pumping the water out to a tank. Later we had a Driven well that was about 100 ft deep then when we had some money we had a drilled well that was about 400 ft deep. Everytime we replaced the well it was because the goverment made us do it. They would come out and check for this and check for that. Whatever was the new bad bug or mineral we shouldnt be drinking because it was bad for us. Over the years it ranged from arsnic to florides to various pathogens to radioactive particles. There was always something in the water that was going to make us sick or cause some other problems. Today there are signs all over the place like the one below. However, Everyone I know and grew up with is still alive and healthy today besides a few accidents. We hardly ever got sick. We are in our 60's and 70's.