We drilled our well 6years ago and there were no problems. Now in the past year our production has gone done a lot, and we recently retested the water and it has high levels of sodium and fluoride were they do not recommend we drink or cook with it. So we had a drilling company come and took a look and he examined the substance we get from our filter and said it was surface sand which was not a good sign. He decided to shock the well and see if that would help. So I went to go and pump out the well after letting it sit for 12hours and the water only ran for 45 minutes and that was it, and since then after letting the well recover(8hours) the water only pumps out for 15-20minutes. So now I am looking for others opinions before we spend a bunch of money drilling a new well or deepening the exsisting one. There are so many different things that could be the problem, but I don't know were to start. Thanks for your time, Natasha
Location and depth matter. I had a well dug last year to 95 feet.
Well digger offered no guarantees that good water would be found.
I'd get a different well digger but only after checking credentials and references. You might also consult the local natural resources water department rep to see what they say about wells in your area. Also see what the neighbors are doing. Their well depths and problems might give you some ideas.
Our water authority is pumping water into the ground as a reserve; "have collectively stored approximately 280,000 acre-feet of water for the community?s use in times of need."
USGS Frequently Asked Questions Question: How can you find out how deep the water table is in a specific location? Answer:
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-- Oren
"The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!"
on 9/19/2007 4:22 PM snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com said the following:
My well was drilled in 1984 by a well known well driller Co. for this area. Guess what? They brought in a 'dowser', the guy with the forked stick who is supposed to find underground water. I went along with it, not believing that it would work. They went down 325' where the guy said, and I have never lost any water pressure since.
Here we go.. Truth - I watched a gas company person in the past few months pull out some wires. He was looking for "gas lines" to service the first house on the street. Even went to the dumpster for wire sizes and parts needed.
The line was marked many feet away.
-- Oren
"I didn?t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you."
How deep is the well? What depth is the pump? How deep was the water table when you drilled the well 6 years ago? Can you measure the current water table depth? What part of the country are you in? How wet was the weather in the months preceding your well drilling? How wet has the weather been in the past months? Do you have a storage tank, or just a pressure tank? Do you have a "Pumpsaver" or similar on your pump?
If your drilling company thought that shocking the well would solve your water production problems, I would find another well "expert". Your water table has gone down. They do go up and down depending upon the time of year and the the weather (and sometimes other factors).
Depending upon your answers to the above questions, there may be a variety of things that you could do to get by until the water table recovers.
Using wire to make an extemporaneous dousing rod. Many claim they can find underground utilities that way as the water dousers claim to be able to find water...
I have no knowledge of any controlled studies that indicate anything to any of it -- as many things of that ilk, those that believe won't be convinced they're wrong, those that don't likewise...
Agree. If there is anything to 'dowsing' nobody can really explain the phenomenon.
The reference to using a piece of scrap wire from say a dumpster, was immediately understood. While some dowsers will use a freshly peeled forked wooden stick, other will use a wire. Some claim any old wire that you can grip tightly enough will do.
Once or twice have tried dowsing and 'feel' I have had some reaction using a piece of coat hanger wire! Some dowsers use two separate bent wires one in each fist or hand. A lot of claims some claiming something to do with 'dips' in the earth's local magnetic field; which could presumably be checked by a magnetic inclinomter(sp)?
Not sure if there really is anything to dowsing.
Anyway Natasha has insufficient water. Whether it is due to lowering water tables in a particular area affected by global warming/changes in rainfall/drought or many more people drawing water from the ground as an area has become built up, or the well has become old and tired and clogged up after years of use will be unknown. 'Shocking' a well is a trick sometimes used. We gather it can both help and spoil a well. IMO it's sort of a 'Give it a try' method.
Sodium and fluoride maybe due to pollution from the ground; there are so many herbicides and pesticides used recklessly these days that we don't used our well since municipal water was installed some 30 years ago. In Natasha's area most likely if people are using wells, there may be waste water from septic tanks. And detergents and washing compounds do contain various chemicals.
Local knowledge and all the suggestions that others have made are appropriate. There's no magic solution and ground water supply is not infinite. What's the story on a major underground aquifer under several US states that has dropped its level significantly; was in the news a few months ago?
PS. At the s.market recently couldn't buy any laundry powder/detergent that did not have 'lemon' in it. Understanding that the lemon is completely unnecessary and is merely yet another chemical that supposedly smells nice!!!!!!
I too am skeptical but can find things using the two bent rods. I have used bailing wire, hunks of barbed wire. My favorite's are two welding rods.
Technigue is to hold them loosely, not tightly. For me, they will cross inwards as I cross the line (and will line up with the line) and then again some distance after I cross it. The second one is the depth indication, 5' for each pace between the indications.
I have dowsed water lines, drain lines, rebar in the perimeter of my patio pad (confirmed when hitting it with a masonry drill), phone line (confirmed by the phone company but again I knew where it should be) Several wells (one confirmed by an experienced dowser but not drilled, one confirmed by drilling. The wells are no proof, however, as here you can poke a hole anywhere and find water.
Why am I skeptical? Almost every thing was in the only logical place for it to be or I had other indications where it might be. Have only dug once to confirm it and didnt' find the water line then.
Just dowsed for my neighbor with a broken water line. Traced the line from the well to the break over a route where logic would not have put it. Again we didn't dig to confirm the routing but the exposed pipe in the hole did point in the direction the rods said even though it was 90 degrees away from the direct well route.
Fun to play with but I wouldn't bet money on it.
Would you do it for a million dollars? I believe Mr Randi would be more than happy to give you lots of money if you can demonstrate that dowsing actually works.
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