Gadgetnut
Silver Member
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2005
- Messages
- 137
- Location
- San Juan Islands, Washington
- Tractor
- Walker Mower MD (Kubota,) BobCat ToolCat 5600 Turbo rev. C, John Deere tractor
Hello, everyone. Not having had a lot of private water well experience in the past, I would appreciate receiving your opinions regarding my next move to try to get a potable water supply. My water well gave out in August of last year and I've been hauling water ever since. Last October we sited a new well as close as we could to my neighbor's good well (at 270 feet deep) and the well driller drilled a 600 foot deep dry hole. The driller went through different soils until about 300 feet, where the casing stops, when he hit rock, and he kept drilling through 300 feet of rock, no water. He stopped at 600 feet and capped that well as a dry hole. He came back a week later to see if any water was in the hole and at the end of his 500 foot long probe there was no water, though the hole in the rock extends another hundred feet deeper than his probe. We dropped a pebble and I wasn't sure, but it sounded like there may have been a splash at the bottom. We have not looked at that well again since October 2006.
Regarding this dry hole, people have mentioned hydro-frac... and prices of $7,000 or so-- with no guarantees of course, and I'm told you need to have some water in the hole before that will work.
A different well driller also mentioned a "gamma ray" examination of that dry hole, which could definitiviely determine if the driller missed any water just outside the casing. I don't know how much that would cost.
We are considering drilling a new well. We hired a water douser and after an hour of walking around he identified a confluence of two underwater streams. His identified location is at somewhat of a low spot on our property, compared to the rising landscape around it.
My questions are: has anyone had any experience with hydro-frac? I'm hoping to have a good quantity and quality of supply-- I hate to invest more money in this hole, if it is anticapted to return only a small quantity of water. If I abadone that old well and proceed with drilling a new well, in addition to hiring a douser, any other recommendation for locating the new well site? An engineer friend recommended a specialty hydro-geology report... this would be produced by engineers 75 miles away. I think they look at well logs and geology maps and make an educated guess. Their report was offered to me at about $3,500 and of course offers no guarantee. I asked the well driller if he has ever found those hydro-geology reports useful or accurate, and he says not.
Between purchasing a water treatment system for a well that went dry, then drilling a dry hole, I've already invested a lot and still don't have any water. Any suggestions? Thanks. More background info about my situation in next post.
Regarding this dry hole, people have mentioned hydro-frac... and prices of $7,000 or so-- with no guarantees of course, and I'm told you need to have some water in the hole before that will work.
A different well driller also mentioned a "gamma ray" examination of that dry hole, which could definitiviely determine if the driller missed any water just outside the casing. I don't know how much that would cost.
We are considering drilling a new well. We hired a water douser and after an hour of walking around he identified a confluence of two underwater streams. His identified location is at somewhat of a low spot on our property, compared to the rising landscape around it.
My questions are: has anyone had any experience with hydro-frac? I'm hoping to have a good quantity and quality of supply-- I hate to invest more money in this hole, if it is anticapted to return only a small quantity of water. If I abadone that old well and proceed with drilling a new well, in addition to hiring a douser, any other recommendation for locating the new well site? An engineer friend recommended a specialty hydro-geology report... this would be produced by engineers 75 miles away. I think they look at well logs and geology maps and make an educated guess. Their report was offered to me at about $3,500 and of course offers no guarantee. I asked the well driller if he has ever found those hydro-geology reports useful or accurate, and he says not.
Between purchasing a water treatment system for a well that went dry, then drilling a dry hole, I've already invested a lot and still don't have any water. Any suggestions? Thanks. More background info about my situation in next post.