Who's dug their own well?
 

The drought is upon us in the west and I expect wailing and gnashing of teeth this summer in CA. I've got too much to keep green with city water and have buku water about 20' down. I want to do it myself but need info on how to. Drilling, casing, submersible pump, pressure tank, etc. Thanks for any experienced advice!

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You may need to get a water diviner in to find the best place to drill.

Done it. I made my own out of heavy copper wire. Amazing how well they work (no pun intended). They cross and hit my chest over a tiny cup of water on the ground

Be careful using the wires. I've used them to find pipes, conduits, underground wires, leach fields, septic tanks, etc., etc. If you use them enough, you can get a bit of a feel as to what's underground - especially electrical. I prefer forked sticks for water. I used both to find the location for my well (only location on the property, 500 ft., 40 gal./min.). Haven't dug a well on my own, but I'd imagine you might be able to rent a power auger for only twenty (plus) feet. If I were doing it, I'd make the diameter decent sized, drill deeper than you want the well to be, pour in some gravel, use larger diameter, plastic pipe (I know well companies buy it with vertical slits), and pour gravel down between the pipe & the sides of the hole (gravel sleeve). Of course, you have to pay attention to the integrity of the ground you're drilling/digging in.

Yeah, the copper wire is very sensitive. They go haywire with electric lines overhead even. I've located my well site and now just want experienced advice on the process. I'm one of those stubborn guys who gets a wierd satisfaction doing everything myself. I've designed and built my own house, I do my own electric, solar and plumbing, build my own cabinets, etc. I even mill my own lumber from trees i drop and now I want to dig my own well. I've never been ashamed to ask lots of questions and learn from others. In my mind once I stop learning I stop living. I should probably hunt down a well diggin pro and coax info out of him with gifts of liquor

Normally you case with 4” PVC plastic pipe that has slits sawed in it where your aquifer is. Above that it is steel casing (at least the top 10-20’).

If it is shallow, you can use a jet pump on surface. My well is 220’ deep and my pump is set at 200’, it is a 3/4 HP submersible.

You might want to call DOGGR (they are called something else now) to find out what is allowed (for a friend).

A neighbor has used a post hole auger with extensions to dig a shallow well and it has worked out. Definitely find out where your utilities are first.

My FIL did it at their house, and the water was at 20 feet. It was great for watering the yard.

At my house we had a well dug. 240 feet hole and the pump at 220 feet. Once again, we just use it to water the yard, and wash the cars. We can drink it, but it is not plumbed into the house. We have city water and sewer for the house.

We did our own well in Fl as kids.
Built an A frame over the spot. Put a screened tip on the first pipe. Used a weight mounted on a larger pipe, hung from the A frame with a block.
My brother and I could lift the weight and drop it on the pipe, using the line and block.
Lift , drop, lift , drop, a few inches at a time.

It took us a few afternoons to get down to the water. About 25' down.

This was in Fl so mostly sand to go thru.
This was an artisan well so pumped its self.

Cheers Richard

Thanks Billy, a post hole auger and steel casing makes sense as I heard there's river rock 10' down to get through plus we're prone to earthquakes. I'll see what harbor Freight has. So, I'm guessing the steel pipe is 6" and encases the 4" pvc which encases a ¾" pvc supply line attached to the submersible pump?

Actually the pipes are threaded together. Thinking about this just now, I think my well is 6”. I will look in 5 minutes. You need to be able to fit a 4” submersible down there is you go that route. I will measure my spare pump for you too.

I see. What's the trick to attaching and lowering sections of casing down without losing it? Sacrificial rope?

Water law in the west is very, VERY different to that of the eastern US. First and foremost, do you have the overlying rights? Are you within an adjudicated watershed? Is the well you propose to drill/dig hydraulically linked to surface water? If you have rights are you lessor to others in the area? Have you had a finding that the water your propose to extract will go to beneficial use when competing with other superior rights? Do you have a negative declaration or a CEQA determination on the environmental impacts.

How big is your lot? You say you have a water meter for city water? If you do, any previous rights you may be declaring may already have been stripped by the local water authority.

If you try this on the QT, remember you cannot prescript a right against a public agency in California.

And most importantly, do not listen to what is being done by others who do not live in the West.

Have you ever dealt with the design of a well? If you are pushing pipe into an aquifer that is used for M&I, you need to consider screening requirements for health purposes, this could get real ugly if you are caught doing this on the QT. Have you ever dealt with your local water shed management agency? You do not want to get crossways with them.

AND as an alternative do you qualify for an ag meter? If so that is an option. Is there reclaimed water in your area?

Be very careful in doing this.

Read this:

https://www.napawatersheds.org/managed_files/Document/8773/20170720_Well_Owners_Guide_Final.pdf

Great points. I remember reading some other threads about water issues in Cali. Stuff that seems crazy (Cali!).

20 feet down, irrigation only. You need to figure out what type of soil you have, silt, gravel, alluvium, etc.to determine the slot size of the well pipe and what fill to pack around it so it doesn't silt up. You may want to hire a well driller, that soil gets very heavy as it gets lifted up, augured, from depth.

Hugh, what do you mean by 20 feet?

Probably no clay layer to act as a barrier from surface contaminants, pesticides, etc.

Check with the local water agency, permits are usually required. If you don't seal the pipe well with bentonite at the surface its also a serious route for introducing contamination. Not a geologist but I've overseen putting in plenty of groundwater monitoring wells, not production wells, but the ones for sampling the groundwater.

We've done two wells here. The first was dug with a backhoe. Twenty two feet down through sand and clay. We lined it with six four foot diameter crocks and pumped with a shallow jet pump in the basement. That served for 19 years. The water supplied both house and barn.
When we became concerned about slowing refresh times, we called in a rotary drill. He went down a total of 120 feet in about two hours. He drove 6 inch casing about 30 feet into the sand stone. We installed a submersible pump about 100 feet down and were able to cut the water pipe off at the old well and connect it to the pitless fitting on the new well casing.
I can still access the old well and used it to flood the ice on the small outdoor rink I made for our grand daughter last winter.

Best
Les

Would be used for irrigation only. There is a surface clay barrier.