Ping Danny D

[Danny D.]

Tekkie® wrote, on Tue, 28 Oct 2014 16:47:22 -0400:

Actually, I had posted pictures of the "problem" a while back. They wouldn't let me post the pictures of the water itself, but, they hit water at 300 feet, but didn't get a good flow (I think

2 gallons a minute, IIRC) until 520 feet, where they stopped.

Then, inexplicably, they pumped for a full week, and the water was stone gray! I saw it with my own eyes. It was not sediment. The water itself was as gray as a bucket of gray paint!

They had the water in 5-gallon buckets, but it wouldn't settle out. The water, for some reason, was just contaminated with "something". But what? I have no clue.

Are there geologists out here whom we can ask?

Anyway, they told me they would pump for another week, but, since it's not the neighbor I help (the one I help is next door and they share the old well, which "is" dry), I don't know any other details.

However, I do know that they said they'd pump for another week, and, as you can see from the picture, the 50,000 dollar well is not working.

The workers who came with the water truck also confirmed the water was useless.

Basically *something* is turning the water gray. What scares me is that "my" water is only a few thousand feet away, but mine is clear.

So, it's really odd. Really odd. The drillers, whom I met at the first week point told me they never saw a well do that before.

Dunno what it is, but, if you know any geologists, please ask them why water would be stone paint-color gray!

[Danny D.]

Oren wrote, on Tue, 28 Oct 2014 14:11:02 -0700:

My one well is something like a few hundred feet, and it's basically dry since the beginning of the year (or maybe even last year).

My second well is deeper than 400 feet, and it pumps for less than a half hour before going dry.

So, our water situation is not good. Luckily we now have 40-acre zoning, so, nobody will be moving in soon on anything other than existing lots (of which there are very few empty ones).

[Stormin Mormon]

Who gives? Try and sell it on Ebay as tonic water, eight ounces in the bath tub, and the FDA won't let you tell anyone the benefits. It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

People will swear by some really strange ideas. Use the money from sales to hire a water hauler.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

.

[Tekkie®]

Oren posted for all of us...

I was referring to why the well drilled wasn't proper. He responded a few posts later - Grey water. Now we continue this thread on all sorts of speculation. Nearby laundromat? Fracking? Some kind of industrial discharge? Farm waste? Let your imagination go wild!

[Danny D.]

Oren wrote, on Tue, 28 Oct 2014 18:51:37 -0700:

We're at about 2000 to 2500 feet or so here in the Santa Cruz mountains.

[Danny D.]

Tekkie® wrote, on Tue, 28 Oct 2014 19:23:58 -0400:

Impossible,.

Impossible.

Impossible.

Impossible.

None of those are possible, since there isn't a farm or industry within miles of the location of the well.

There's just something *in* the ground. But what?

[Pico Rico]

iron and "iron bacteria" is pretty common up in those hills.

[Danny D.]

Pico Rico wrote, on Tue, 28 Oct 2014 21:43:58 -0700:

So is mercury (cinnabar) and silver, so, I'd guess that it could be some "ore?" of silver or mercury. But that's just a wild guess, which has no basis other than those ores do exist in the area.

[CRNG]

On Tue, 28 Oct 2014 21:26:45 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D." wrote in

Aren't the well drilling companies required to file with the county, or some such authority, a report detailing the results of the well drilling?

[Stormin Mormon]

Which brings back my earlier point, see what it is, and sell it.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

.

[Stormin Mormon]

Yer a miner, forty niner, dreadful sorry, Clementine.... EVERYBODY SING!!!!!!

I still think you ought to be able to sell that grey fluid some how.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

.

[Pico Rico]

I don't think cinnabar is common in your neck of the woods.

[Scott Lurndal]

Not too far from danny you'll find:

Note the full name is "Almaden Quicksilver County Park", and is loaded with old mines, which produced mercury used during the gold rush for precious metal purification purposes.

[Danny D.]

CRNG wrote, on Wed, 29 Oct 2014 06:50:10 -0500:

That's was a *great* suggestion.

I called the Santa Clara Valley Water District at 408-265-2600 and they told me they'd send me all they had on "my" wells, and they confirmed a permit was taken out on the neighbor's well, but, they couldn't tell me anything about the well due to privacy rules.

They were unaware though, of the gray water, but, they said the process is a "physical" one, and not a chemical analysis.

Here's the process, as I understand it...

1. Usually you contract out to a well drilling company.
2. The contractor files for a permit, which gets the Santa Clara County Health Department involved in choosing the site (away from leech fields, septic systems, roadside drainage, etc.).
3. Once the location is approved, the contractor drills, where the Santa Clara Valley Water District puts an inspector on site, mostly to witness the pouring of the 50 foot deep "sanitary seal" at the top.
4. Usually the contractor pumps for a few days to "develop the well" (i.e., clear out debris) but it's up to the homeowner to run the chemical analysis of the water, and it's not part of the permit process (surprisingly).
5. There is no report back once the permit is closed, but, there is a legal process for "abandoning" a well (which is a legal term), and for "destroying" a well (which is another legal term, often called 'capping' the well.

That's all I learned but I'm hoping that they can give me some information about the well as to whether it was abandoned or destroyed.

[Danny D.]

Pico Rico wrote, on Wed, 29 Oct 2014 06:58:29 -0700:

I certainly hope not (for my sake).

But, three people died of cancer within 5 houses of that well, one of whom was the husband of the owner that I've been helping out.

Googling, I see what cinnabar looks like (400 feet deep) in the Santa Teresa Hills, Santa Clara County, California

The cinnabar is certainly in the Almaden hills, of South San Jose:

But, cinnabar seems to be "red", not opaque gray.

[Danny D.]

Scott Lurndal wrote, on Wed, 29 Oct 2014 16:23:56 +0000:

There are also silver mines in the other direction, so, I "am" surrounded by silver mines both north and south of me.

But, the cinnabar ore seems to be 'red', not 'silver'.

There *are* old, abandoned, silver mines within a mile of me, but, again, I don't know what color silver ore is (ores are rarely the same color as the metal).

[Danny D.]

Pico Rico wrote, on Wed, 29 Oct 2014 06:58:29 -0700:

I called the well driller and spoke to the son of the owner. Apparently they "developed" that well for an entire month! It was still opaque silver when they pulled the pump out!

That's probably hundreds of thousands of gallons of water later.

Since that home is only a thousand feet from me, it was VERY INTERESTING (to say the least) to see the comment "gray shale" in *my* well permit report!

There's no shale out here (AFAIK), but, that means they also got gray water for a period of time on my well also.

Apparently, they got the gray water problem on another well nearby the now unused newly dug well, so, there's *something* in the water ... but what?

The recommended tests are for coliforms and nitrates, etc., but, apparently not for "gray stuff".

The plot thickens ...

[Pico Rico]

That is in the same county perhaps, but certainly has no bearing on Danny's location. I know both pretty well.