With water prices spiking with everything else today I'm considering a water well. Does anyone have any experience with a well? Any idea how deep down the
water is? Living on the island I'd imagine there is plenty of ledge. Is this only a pipe dream?
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Considering a Water Well
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 Explorer |
Considering a Water Well |
Lead | |
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(07/24/08 11:15 AM) |
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stanb |
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(07/24/08 11:30 AM) |
I have been thinking the same thing. Maybe a shallow well for watering the gardens. Wasn't it Rockport that once had the idea of
charging residents for Town aquifer water? |
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Zannylicious |
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(07/24/08 11:34 AM) |
I have a well up here.... It is 367 feet deep, and we have NEVER once ran out of water with it...even the summer we moved here, and it was a severe drought...
I can tell you I have never had such cold water running out of the taps, and it is sooo tasty...
Actually, if you want to get technical... My well is about a mile from the Dallas Plantation Aquifer of Poland Springs water... So really, when you drink that water, you are drinking water from my back yard, practically.... This is why I always drink only Poland Springs when I am away. |
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 o Realist o |
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(07/24/08 11:38 AM) |
No pipe dream. Charged by Rport only for sewer (measured my amt of water that goes to inside faucests) Can use outside water at will. Well has never lost
pressure or run dry...even in severe drought. Depth depends on location of well.
Warning: well water in this area full of manganese. Need filter and softening agent. Call Policy Well and Pump for consultation and estimate. Speak to Skip. ~ a popsicle smile reaps what it sows ~
Last Edited By: o Realist o
07/24/08 11:41 AM.
Edited 1 times.
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Mothership |
Water Well | ||
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(07/24/08 11:46 AM) |
Explorer,
No, it is not a pipe dream on this here island. We did have a well at another location where we lived in the City. I will try to get more specifics on depth and such. The well we had was already there and had been there for more than 40+ years so I am not sure I can get details that can help you. It was used mostly for watering the landscape/garden not for consumption by the home and I am not sure why. Distance from home, etc.? You may want to check the City website for any current rules a/o advice? I have seen signs around the City at peoples homes: "Well Water In Use", etc. Not sure where you are located and that might make the difference. I hope it works out for you. The more people that do it makes it a win-win for everyone! Good luck. 
"I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice...I will not retreat a single inch - AND I WILL
BE HEARD." - Wm. Lloyd Garrison
Last Edited By: Mothership
07/24/08 11:50 AM.
Edited 1 times.
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mazzie46 |
well | ||
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(07/24/08 11:53 AM) |
I have a well for the yard only. 12 feet deep hole, a load of stone in the bottom. Then we put 4 foot diameter concrete pipe end to end, one on top of the
other. In the spring we drop a $100.00 sears pump in and I am good to go until fall freeze. I can water about 4 hours beofre it goes dry and it recovers by the
next morning. Family members have a deep water well. They just had a new one put in. I do not understand, but ledge is preferable to dirt for drilling a well.
They went over 500 feet in one area, no water and the driller was afraid of getting salt water if he went any deeper. They then had it hydro fractured (an
underground charge that makes new seams in the underground ledge) and they were good to go.
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leftwingnut |
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(07/24/08 12:12 PM) |
I grew up on well water... I have the teeth to prove it, too... our well was about 200 feet deep, never ran dry, even when the neighbors' wells did.
I put a well in in Maine once -- had it pounded, not drilled. This supposedly fractures the rock down there and gives better flow. (No need for the hydro fracturing described by mazzie.) I[m not sure that would be useful if you're tapping ont0o a loose aquifer, though. You want your well below ledge, not simply into the dirt, because you don't want ground water in a well for drinking water -- you want good aquifer water. The ledge forms an impervious cover over the water source and prevents groundwater from getting in. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.-Theodore Roosevelt, The Kansas City Star, May 7, 1918 |
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sprinkle14 |
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(07/24/08 12:51 PM) |
I've had 3 friends with well water. One passed away last year of lung and brian cancer and the other 2 have had their thyroids removed due to thyroid
cancer. I certainly can't tell you that the water was the reason, but it sure seems ironic. I'd reconsider. My opinion only!
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leftwingnut |
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(07/24/08 12:59 PM) |
I would drink well water from a known source before municipal water -- hands down.
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.-Theodore Roosevelt, The Kansas City Star, May 7, 1918 |
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oldhippie01930 |
Do It Yourself | ||
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(07/24/08 01:13 PM) Administrator |
For under $400, you could give it a try yourself. If you hit ledge or if the aquafer is too deep, you are SOL, but it's not a huge investment risk.
http://www.fdungan.com/well.htm The next DIY step would be purchasing the drilling equipment from Hydra-Tek, Hydra-Fab, Hydra-Jett, which will allow you to drill a deep well through hard strata for $2K-$6K. Going in with others on something like this would make sense, and the rig could be sold later. In fact, you see quite a few used ones on the market and could get a good deal. Finally, you could call the man for big $$$'s I'm thinking about trying the first possibility to drive a well for lawn and garden watering. |
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Zannylicious |
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(07/24/08 01:53 PM) |
We had out well tested when we moved in here... We had heard a statistic that 1 in 10 wells in Maine have Arsenic in them.. One summer family ended up in the
ER with Arsenic poisoning 3 years ago... Ours does not... We also have a reverse Osmosis system in the basement.. (it came with the house)
LWN- the schools here now have weekly Fluoride Treatments, and I make mine rinse with a Fluoride rinse, and they used to take supplements, until I found it it can cause more damage if you have too much.. Then again, I have a fear of bad teeth, and cavities, so I take my children to the dentist every 6 months... |
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star squiggle |
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(07/24/08 02:35 PM) |
as an aside...just think, if any of us had purchased that rain barrel we talked about a month or so ago...how much spare water we could have collected already
I'd rather laugh with
the sinners than cry with the saints
The sinners are much more fun... |
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Bobby Dinero |
Well well well | ||
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(07/24/08 03:21 PM) |
I've been considering the very same thing. Not knowing how much it will cost to install a well its impossible to run the numbers but I would have to think that a with $300 per quarter and rising water bills that a well might pay for itself in under 10 years. Does anyone have any prices on the cost per foot or drill to you hit costs? I hear around $10k. (I understand you get to choose/gamble on per foot or flat rate drilling.) Also, if/when I do it I will combine my well with a ground source heat pump for heating and cooling of my home. I've been doing some research and it looks like a $20k install for everything with the well, system, hot water and air conditioning. |
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leftwingnut |
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(07/24/08 03:36 PM) |
star squiggle wrote: I have a rain barrel... I want to expand it -- it's about 65 gallons... I get far more water than that with the current rain situation, but if a dry spell comes, I can't store enough...
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.-Theodore Roosevelt, The Kansas City Star, May 7, 1918 |
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joltin j |
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(07/24/08 03:47 PM) |
Zanny- If your kids do flouride at school, 1x weekly, then it's prescription strength and no need to do it at home during the school year. I was a
certified flouride provider at my kids school. If they do it at home during the summer, it needs to be EVERY day or not at all. That is what we were taught
during the certification process.
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Zannylicious |
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(07/24/08 03:58 PM) |
I make them rinse with some Listerine kid's stuff for now... The older one is in High School, and they don't let the HS kids do the fluoride. My
younger one is just starting kindergarten in September and hasn't started the weekly thing YET...
I am not seeing why if, you get a Fluoride Treatment once a week during the school year, then why you would need to do it at home every single day |
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leftwingnut |
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(07/24/08 04:04 PM) |
When the kids' teeth are still growing, if you use fluoride during the school year and then stop for three months, you can create a permanent
banding/mottling pattern... since the take-home stuff is less potent, you have to do it more often than weekly...
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.-Theodore Roosevelt, The Kansas City Star, May 7, 1918 |
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Y DEVELOP |
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(07/24/08 04:37 PM) |
LWN your blanket love for well water should be tempered with the realities of pollution. Zanny's water in deep Maine is probably fine but I would not
recommend digging a well in Gloucester unless you have plenty of land. Not only is the initial cost high but there are maintenance and upkeep fees to consider
as well. JMO.
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joltin j |
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(07/24/08 04:51 PM) |
Zanny, store bought stuff is not as potent as the prescription strength so once weekly is good for prescription strength, every day for over the counter.
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leftwingnut |
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(07/24/08 07:11 PM) |
Y DEVELOP wrote: What blanket love? Read over what I said again...
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.-Theodore Roosevelt, The Kansas City Star, May 7, 1918 |
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lucky again |
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(07/24/08 09:50 PM) |
I've had two wells for 20 years{not in Gloucester) One an artesian well the other one is about 350 ft. Never any real problems outside of maintenance. One
annoying problem is that when the power is out there is no water because of the electric pump shiuts down.
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