Water well & drought?

[N80]

The well at my cabin is over 200 feet and we have gotten good, but not great gpm from it through drought and plenty. It seems to stay constant.

There is an open hand dug well about 50 yards behind the cabin. It is 35 feet deep. The water level in it is purely dependant on how much rain there has been. When it has been dry for several months it will be bone dry at the bottom.

 

[RickB]

There are wells 200-300 feet deep within a mile of here that have yield problems in drought, such as this late summer and early fall.

 

[bp fick]

Bear in mind, I live in Michigan and I sometimes forget that.

Anyhow, our shallow wells are indeed susceptible to drought, of course, because they are shallow. Shallow wells are also highly effected by nearby development, excavation and so forth. A new subdivision or commercial development can quickly lower shallow water tables.

But in our area, seasonal or even severe occasional droughts simply cannot effect our deep water wells. The shear amount of water in our Great Lakes, 11,000 inland lakes and underground springs and strata are enormous and gorged with water.

No, seasonal droughts are simply unable to effect our deep water supply to any meaningful measure. Our situation is obviously not applicable to other areas where even deeper wells are likely fed to a large degree from surface water activity and seasonal conditions.

 

[mmurphy]

In the confined aquifers that we use here, are to have water that has been in the ground at least 100 years or more. That is not myself saying that but, geologist.

 

[mmurphy]

Oh, I see what you meant...

I'm not real knowledgeable on the different types of systems. All I know is that is what the county said we had to have. Don't know if that is all they allow or if my particular case demanded it.

We have hard clay and things don't soak in real fast. Don't know if that is the reason or not.

I do know mine is all underground. Have the tops of the tank sticking up of course... and some cleanouts/chlorine access tubes... but other than that, the drain in all underground. I like this. I can drive over everything without worry.

We have an "emergency overflow" which liquid does come out of a lot. (Not a lot of liquid, but liquid comes out often.) I suppose that is because our soil (clay) is not allowing the underground drainage to do its job quick enough.

I do know the county inspectors have always commented on how nice out setup is. Apparently there are lots of issues with others' systems.

How is the septic / leach field setup work? I have heard about them but don't know anything about it.

In a nut shell, a septic system with leach field uses a tank for settling solids and setting up a anerobic (with out air) bacteria colony that digest some of the solids. It flows out a mostly clear water to a leach field over an area so that the water will percolate in to the ground where microbes will finish cleaning up the water in the ground before it runs off.
And Yes, heavy clay does not work for percolation. Heavy clay is the same thing layers of will make an impermeable membrane to make a confined aquifer.
The system you have must be a small scale, much like an aerated loggon would use. Do you know what type of system they call it?

 

[The Dougster]

Check with whatever State Agency keeps track of these things in your state....be prepared to give precise instructions as to your location and they should be able to give you a pretty good estimate as to the quantity and quality of the groundwater in your area. They know the geology and will have historical data regarding static water levels, well depths, etc.

 

[rjkobbeman]

In a nut shell, a septic system with leach field uses a tank for settling solids and setting up a anerobic (with out air) bacteria colony that digest some of the solids. It flows out a mostly clear water to a leach field over an area so that the water will percolate in to the ground where microbes will finish cleaning up the water in the ground before it runs off.
And Yes, heavy clay does not work for percolation. Heavy clay is the same thing layers of will make an impermeable membrane to make a confined aquifer.
The system you have must be a small scale, much like an aerated loggon would use. Do you know what type of system they call it?

It is a Jet Precast J-500: JetPrecast | Jet Aeration System | Jet Aerator 700LL | JET-CHLOR | BIO JET-7

It is suppose to process 500 gallons per day. The size of the unit was based on how many bedrooms we have in our house (4).

We have no smell and it appears to work OK, but I think the clay is preventing the 100' of underground laterals (10" gravel pipe) from draining enough sometimes. That is why we have some small amounts of liquid coming from our overflow.

I think I am going to dig a pit where our overflow discharges and fill with rock. Should help a little I think.

 

[jinman]

It is a Jet Precast J-500: JetPrecast | Jet Aeration System | Jet Aerator 700LL | JET-CHLOR | BIO JET-7

It is suppose to process 500 gallons per day. The size of the unit was based on how many bedrooms we have in our house (4).

We have no smell and it appears to work OK, but I think the clay is preventing the 100' of underground laterals (10" gravel pipe) from draining enough sometimes. That is why we have some small amounts of liquid coming from our overflow.

I think I am going to dig a pit where our overflow discharges and fill with rock. Should help a little I think.

Robert, I'm surprised that you send this water to an underground leach field. My aerobic system is very similar to yours, but adds a tank that collects the water and uses floats to control a submersed pump that sends the water to sprinklers for above ground application and evaporation. I never have to worry about tree roots ruining my leach field or the surface clay layer. This method of water disposal is exactly why aerobic systems are required. Texas still allows conventional septic systems where a perc test passes, but there is talk that at some point, all new septic systems will be required to be aerobic.

I'm one of those folks who would not swap my well for city water. I love being responsible for my own water and sewer. Except for fluoride and chlorine being added to city water, my well beats all city water I have ever had. My well produces all the water I can pump and my pressure is always perfect. My city water would drop to a trickle every day during the summer and often was murky or rusty after local water main repairs that occurred with regularity in my neighborhood. My well has lasted 11 years with only a single $200 service call to replace a pump controller earlier this year. I'm sure the aquifer we have here and the depth of my well (400') is what makes it so good. In the summer, I run sprinklers every other day and put 1000s of gallons of water on my 1/2 acre yard. It seems the more I use the well, the better the water. I know my electric bills are higher and I have a backup generator for long power outages, but my 80 gallon water tank makes short outages a non-issue.

The only issue we currently have is salt water injection wells in our area. Some homeowners in a nearby town discovered huge amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas in their water and some salts causing corrosion of well pipes. The gas was so bad that a lighted match near the water faucet would ignite the gas escaping from the water stream. This was traced to a bad well casing on a nearby injection well. That kind of thing is very scary for the thousands of well owners in our area. The gas and oil industry is controlled by the Texas Railroad Commission and they are not doing their job in some areas. When you see problems like this, it's scary. Something has to change and the BP oil spill has certainly brought large scale catastrophe to the spotlight. If our major aquifers become polluted with chemicals, it will be a huge disaster.

 

[dmccarty]

The only issue we currently have is salt water injection wells in our area. Some homeowners in a nearby town discovered huge amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas in their water and some salts causing corrosion of well pipes. The gas was so bad that a lighted match near the water faucet would ignite the gas escaping from the water stream. This was traced to a bad well casing on a nearby injection well. That kind of thing is very scary for the thousands of well owners in our area. The gas and oil industry is controlled by the Texas Railroad Commission and they are not doing their job in some areas. When you see problems like this, it's scary. Something has to change and the BP oil spill has certainly brought large scale catastrophe to the spotlight. If our major aquifers become polluted with chemicals, it will be a huge disaster.

This sort of stuff is scary.

There is supposed to be quite a bit of gas in my county as well as the counties to our south and east. But none under our land. :laughing:

Before I left FLA, Broward county was drilling a deep well. Not to get oil or gas but to pump large amounts of treated waste water into a deep aquifer! This stuff was not safe to drink but they were "disposing" of it underground. I was shocked that this was legal. The county used to dump the treated water offshore but they could no longer do so. You would think if they got the outlet pipe a bit further off shore the treated waste water would be diluted by the Gulf Stream. Maybe not the best solution but it seems much better than pumping treated water into the ground that might pop up somewhere else one day.

Later,
Dan

 

[Egon]

There are lot's of water wells with naturally occurring H2S in the water bearing formation.:thumbsup:

Fresh Water bearing formations may be contaminated by heavy metals from naturally occurring minerals in the formation.

If my recall is correct there was waste sewage water?? being injected in a deep well near Denver. They started have little earth quakes that were traced to the water injection.