Can I dig my own water well?

[ore540]

As long as I use it for livestock watering (which is the intent) I don't even need a water right. I won't be damming the creek just drawing from it. I want to keep the critters off of the creek bank. I don't have enough drop for a ram pump and solar is a bit iffy in my part of Oregon, but almost everyday I get a few hours of wind up or down the draw.

If you haven't already, you might want to double check that. I know that in our (drier) area of Oregon, you can't take from a stream in any way without a water right. Sounds like that here (Water Resources Department Water Law) too:

Under Oregon law, all water is publicly owned. With some exceptions, cities, farmers, factory owners and other users must obtain a permit or water right from the Water Resources Department to use water from any source whether it is underground, or from lakes or streams. Landowners with water flowing past, through, or under their property do not automatically have the right to use that water without a permit from the Department.​

Of course, you may already know that you fall into the "with some exceptions" category but I'm pretty sure that watering livestock, by itself, doesn't give you that exception. If you want to poke officialdom, the list of watermasters is Watermaster Map

Here at least, people get really, really serious about water - makes the difference between growing something on your land or not - and will turn you in. I'd hate to see someone run into a hornets nest.

Best of luck. I've always thought that a windmill would be pretty cool to have.

 

[bx24]

In my continuing search for more information about well points, I found these two sites which provide a bunch of good information .....

http://www.bradyproducts.com/documents/wellinstallation.pdf

Water Well Helpline

 

[Eagleview]

I did'nt have time to read all the posts , but have you thought about simply using a piece of Poly pipe and a foot valve in the water hole as a suction line for the mill ?

 

[Enter]

Index of /sonda/

hamer

 

[bx24]

Cool, thanks

 

[WarrenF]

Simple way of drilling a well to about thirty feet.....get a high pressure water pump...if need be rent one. You have access to water from your earlier post. Pick your size of well casing, either 4 inch or 6 inch. Put the first section of well casing into the ground. Insert the output tube from the pump into the top of the casing. Turn on pump and let it start pumping. It will be messy, but it will dig your hole. simply weld on the next section and continue the process until you have reached the depth your looking for.

Done around here all the time. People do it for lawn irrigation etc.. Don't be going downtown and bragging to everyone about how you dug your well. For some reason the Communists...errr the government stooges who are paid to do nothing seem to frown on stuff like that. They think you will pollute the water table......HUH?????

 

[excelagator]

Get yourself about twenty feet of 6 inch casing. Have a friend who might have a very high pressure pump....similar to a fire truck. Get the casing into the ground a bit....then turn the hose on full power. Hang on, and go for it. My friend can sink a twenty foot hole in about a half an hour this way.

Ya know....I stuck 50 feet of garden hose in the ground this way when I was a kid.

 

[POC]

You don't have limestone up there like we do down here Paul?

Depending on where you are, I think the idea about a FIRE TRUCK is a good idea. Some rural volunteer departments will do favors such as that, especially for a donation.
We used to fill swimming pools.

My neighbor (now 83) hand dug some wells when he was younger. Just a pit basically, and the bottom would leech in water.

Patrick

 

[bx24]

Where I plan to do this is right next to a creek so after the first bit of top soil, the ground below is all sand.

I still have not done anything with this, but this seems like the way to go given the soil conditions

 

[ragkar]

I'm in far eastern Pennsylvania and around here I have six feet of soil before I hit bedrock. My well goes down 300 feet. Hmmm, sounds like it's difficult to fetch water around here, but every time it rains two inches my sump pump gets a workout.