Help with my future well drilling situation.

[SC Maintenance]

Your not drilling down into a big pool of water, irrelevant of what the pictures online show. Your drilling into rock and water flows through the fissures in the rock.

You can drill two wells the same depth 20 feet apart and they will produce very differently, depending on how many fissures each one hit. By going deeper he is hedging he hits more fissures in the rock to provide a good recovery time (how fast water flows into the well as its being pulled out).

I have honestly never heard a well driller quote up front how far they need to go. I always thought they drill and keep measuring the outflow until they get to a point where they have enough. My parents got a well drilled not too long before dad passed away. I remember it being much shallower than what he thought it would be, and much shallower than the neighbors. The old well was much shallower than that one (about as old as I am) but it was struggling to keep up even with their minimal use. When I was a kid it had more water than you could pump out.

However I agree - for sure you want to do this exactly once. Don't go too shallow to save a buck.

 

[Chris142]

Your not drilling down into a big pool of water, irrelevant of what the pictures online show. Your drilling into rock and water flows through the fissures in the rock.

You can drill two wells the same depth 20 feet apart and they will produce very differently, depending on how many fissures each one hit. By going deeper he is hedging he hits more fissures in the rock to provide a good recovery time (how fast water flows into the well as its being pulled out).

I have honestly never heard a well driller quote up front how far they need to go. I always thought they drill and keep measuring the outflow until they get to a point where they have enough. My parents got a well drilled not too long before dad passed away. I remember it being much shallower than what he thought it would be, and much shallower than the neighbors. The old well was much shallower than that one (about as old as I am) but it was struggling to keep up even with their minimal use. When I was a kid it had more water than you could pump out.

However I agree - for sure you want to do this exactly once. Don't go too shallow to save a buck.

They base it off other wells in the area. Right now the water is near 2850 ft elevation and does not deviate much like you said. Drill 2 wells here close together and both will be at the same level


My currant well is @3109 ft elevation. Pump is @286ft below that and the new bottom since the collapse is 288.

The bottom of my well is 2821 ft elevation so I should have 29 ft of water at this time.

 

[Chris142]

This is the original well report. They list the material they drilled through. Rocks and boulders mostly lol.

Hit water @257, drilled to 299 and set the pump @273.

 

[Chris142]

Rocks lol

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

This is the original well report. They list the material they drilled through. Rocks and boulders mostly lol.

Hit water @257, drilled to 299 and set the pump @273.

View attachment 301144

Ya the porosity of the rock matters a lot as it dictates the recharge rate at least from what I remember in my hydrology class in college.

 

[TiGeo]

Geologist here enjoying reading the responses.

 

[IndyIan]

Do you know

Rocks lol

View attachment 301145

Do you know the static level of the water now? I think I would start recording the actual levels in your well for a while and see if you've got a problem or not? Having a relatively flat water table go up and down 30-40' is a huge amount of water, but also perhaps the record snowfalls are recharging your water table?
It seems this well has 15' lower seasonal minimums in 2022 than in 2006, but since then is back in the more higher ranges? It would be useful to know where your water table gets its water from and if its in the spots where more snow is occurring, the water level may just keep on climbing? There must be some state or county hydrogeologists that could make an educated guess for your well in your location?
https://www.usgs.gov/apps/ngwmn/provider/MWA/site/67518/

Here's one a valley over. No need for a new well there. https://www.usgs.gov/apps/ngwmn/provider/MWA/site/61735/

 

[IndyIan]

Geologist here enjoying reading the responses.

How tricky is it to figure out the recharge areas and map the movement of recharge flow into the ground and water table? The state would have 1000's of well drilling records to map the basic grain size layers and geology in his area in 3D. Then is their models to predict ground flow through the different materials? I guess it gets rather complex pretty fast, but should be reasonably accurate with some good modelling software?
I did some very basic hydrogeology in my undergrad geography courses using TOPMODEL and for our glacial till, you could pretty accurately predict streams, springs, and wet areas just based on elevation(aspect really)models, just assuming water moved through it all at the same rate. But water table recharge sounds like a much more complex thing to predict and map!

 

[JTK]

Can you get a low interest government loan to cover some of the cost, particularly if it's forgivable?

This well guy sounds like a decent chap.

I feel for anyone in this situation. It is crazy when you think about it. Just about anyone can get a 72-84mo loan for a ~$40K car and I believe $40K is under what the average new car purchase price is. When it comes to the necessities in life, like having running water for your home, you are on your own. Need a new basic shingle roof? That's $30K.

A basic sand filter septic system is $25-30K these days. My brother is having his 50+ year old system replaced in a week or two. He's got some collapsed piping and the leach field isn't absorbing as it should anymore. $25K. He's retired, so they'll pull that out of their retirement savings.

Like mentioned above, around me, the digging outfits go as deep as they need to go. There's no set number in the quote. Everyone's geology is different.

 

[Chris142]

Do you know

Do you know the static level of the water now? I think I would start recording the actual levels in your well for a while and see if you've got a problem or not? Having a relatively flat water table go up and down 30-40' is a huge amount of water, but also perhaps the record snowfalls are recharging your water table?
It seems this well has 15' lower seasonal minimums in 2022 than in 2006, but since then is back in the more higher ranges? It would be useful to know where your water table gets its water from and if its in the spots where more snow is occurring, the water level may just keep on climbing? There must be some state or county hydrogeologists that could make an educated guess for your well in your location?
https://www.usgs.gov/apps/ngwmn/provider/MWA/site/67518/

View attachment 301173

Here's one a valley over. No need for a new well there. https://www.usgs.gov/apps/ngwmn/provider/MWA/site/61735/
View attachment 301175

I can't measure my well with the pump installed. I'm going off what the well guy said it was at 2 weeks ago in a well very close to me.

Our aquifer is filled by the Mojave river when it floods. It takes 2 weeks after a flood for the level in my well to begin to raise. It then goes up 1 inch per day until I had the pump put back in.

Currantly it's near where it was in 1965 when they drilled it according to the well guy .

2 years ago right after the water go too low in my well to pump we had rains and snow and the river flowed non stop for 10 months which is very unusual.

 

[TiGeo]

How tricky is it to figure out the recharge areas and map the movement of recharge flow into the ground and water table? The state would have 1000's of well drilling records to map the basic grain size layers and geology in his area in 3D. Then is their models to predict ground flow through the different materials? I guess it gets rather complex pretty fast, but should be reasonably accurate with some good modelling software?
I did some very basic hydrogeology in my undergrad geography courses using TOPMODEL and for our glacial till, you could pretty accurately predict streams, springs, and wet areas just based on elevation(aspect really)models, just assuming water moved through it all at the same rate. But water table recharge sounds like a much more complex thing to predict and map!

This is way outside of the need here w/r to needing detailed hydrogeological modeling but companies do get paid to do this...I worked in that industry earlier in my career. Modflow was the standard modelling software back then. He just needs to extend the well further into the water table..simple. Typically you perform a "pumping test" which will give you drawdown and recharge rates by pumping out the well and recording draw down with a pressure transducer in the well.. I've done those many times.

 

[TiGeo]

Interesting that it appears from the drillers log to be all sedimentary units (unconsolidated "dirt") vs. rock here.

This is why the rain/surface water quickly impacts the water level in the well.

 

[TiGeo]

In hard rock units fractures will be v. important to well recharge rates and the wells need to be screened across these zones. I have seen a well field where even over a short distance in one direction well to well there was no connectivity during a pumping test where in another direction over a longer distance there was connection/draw down due to the nature of the fractures. Sedimentary units are not typically this way. Biggest issues are clay/low permeability units creating aquatards/confining units.

 

[Al]

Seems to me that investment in holding tank and water delivery is the only SAFE option. Consider purchasing a vehicle that can handle a tank or even something bigger?