No Water

[GarthH]

We ran out of water in our well yesterday. It had a slow recovery today.

Our well is about 10 feet from our dugout; we also have a major river running by our house about 50 feet from the dogout and 40 feet lower. The dugout is frozen over right now. The river is also frozen with likely a few inches of ice.

I'm wondering if it would help pumping up from the river to the dugout - the dugout is likely 10 - 15 feet down from its sides.

Would the water seep through the ground and refill our well? Is there any concerns of bacteria contaminating the well - we are down stream about 15 miles from a city (250,000 people) sewage treatment plant.

Would it be better to haul some water from the local water filling station and refill the well?

We do have city water scheduled to be setup next year.

Thanks

Garth

 

[jimmer2880]

how deep is your well?

I would not pump from the stream becuase of contamination issues.

 

[Highbeam]

Dur to ice, snow, and the knowledge that you've got city water this spring I would haul water. If, in the meantime, the "well" comes back on line then return to using it. Late fall is the worst time of year for groundwater around here since the summer's depletion has yet to be restored.

I don't know about refilling the well. Perhaps refill a sealed tank otherwise the ground could soak up your hauled water.

 

[RoyJackson]

You have my sympathy...just went through the same thing myself.
Fortunately, when the well driller got here, we measured the depth of the well and found we could drop the pump a few feet.
He also told us that the water table tends to drop in late fall/winter (as Highbeam found out too).
So far, it's worked...but we're very conservative when we use water now.

So, if your pump is 6-10 feet above the bottom of the well, you may be able to drop it a few feet (once you determine there is water deeper).

Good luck to you!

 

[ToadHill]

I hope it works out for you I had to have the well drilled 50ft deeper several years ago when it went dry 3 times in 5 years.

 

[GarthH]

Thank you for the support. I'm hearing the two major methods of filling from the river or filling from a clean water source will not likely work. We were going to install a cistern in the spring during some renos on the house. Maybe I will look into putting a cistern in our garage and pluming it into the house - some serious work but pretty good timing as I am on holidays till after new years.

Is this what we do with our holidays now!

Thank you again.

Garth