Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Need a shallow well

We recently bought some hunting property and I'd like to have water there for when we camp. I think the water table isn't very deep, maybe 15 feet according to the neighbors. It's quite rocky in the area with large stones along the fence line form the abandoned farm to the South . My dad suggested an auger to dig the well since he has done it that way before. Ok, but does anyone else have a better way? We don't have electricity other than a generator, no running water close by. Just trying to get some ideas for this project when I get started next spring.

I don't like this style auger, it should give an idea. Pipe can be added to dig deeper. You would have to case the well with plastic, or something.

Good luck at any rate.

Ever see the drilling points that screw on a pipe.
You drive it in and keep adding sections.

Never ever work here.

Might for you if you only need 15 feet.

All the old timers around here dug there wells by hand...lined them with limestone..water is usually 100 ft down. .if the water is shallow you should be able to dig one in short order....

When in Albuquerque, we use to drive wells. Make a tripod with 3 each 21 foot sections of 2" Pipe. Put a 10 " pulley on top. Weld a 35 gal barrel onto an old truck wheel that fits your truck.

Using 2" pipe weld an old chisel to 6-8 foot sections. You will have to heat that end and slot it with a torch to hammer it in so it wil lfit the chisel. Each section threaded on the ends.The first section gets the chisel end with about 6 foot of slots cut in it with a torch maybe 6" long at 120 degree every 15 " or so. Make pipe cap with a big eye on one end. It screws on to the top of a pipe section that will fit over the pipe for the well and add some weight to that.So that would be maybe a 3" pipe section 5-6 foot long.

Start the chisel section in a few feet by hand . Put some kind of cap on the top so you don't mess up the threads.
Run a good stout rope on the eye you made for the 3" pipe, up thru the pulley on top of the tripod . Have the 3" pipe fitted over your well pipe.
Have the 35 gallon wheel mounted on your truck with the drive wheel jacked up or both rear wheels jacked up. Remember to chock the other wheels.
Start the truck and put in low gear . Give the rope a wrap or two around the 35 gallon barrel loosely.

Pull hard on the rope and it will tighten around the barrel and the weighted 3 "pipe will go up.Let the rope loose and it will come down and and hammer on the well pipe.When the 1st section gets down close to grade,add another section and repeat. Once down past water level,you will have to rent a commercial compressor , to blow the bottom of the well out around the pipe to create a void.Hook up a jet pump and pressure tank to the well and you are good to go. Generator should be good to run the pump

Not sure how it will work in rocky ground, but years ago we use to 'punch a well'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGgquszAP94

These shallow wells always fascinate me. I was in the business for 36 years. The first thing that need to be done it to check local laws. In the west all the water is already spoken for and installing a well where none is allowed is theft of property. Next every state has minimal construction standards. Where I was in business none of these wells described above would meet construction standards and would be immediately ordered plugged and abandoned . We possessed over 2 million dollars worth of equipment to drill through the boulders and bedrocks. This equipment was regularly in need of repair as the drilling conditions are brutal here. After the investment in all that equipment it takes about 5 years to train a driller. Then comes the very technical national licensing process and yearly mandatory continuing educations, along with bonds and insurance. Then I see these types of well being constructed with $40 and used screen door parts and they produce water too. Makes we rethink my life choices. I have always wanted to do a drive point well but they do not meet many state standards. The youtube video above is compelling and I am astounded that there are places that this type of well can be constructed. It is entirely illegal in many states and violates just about every health code I know of, but dang it is cool.

I don't know about the legality of punching your own well, but it seems like a lot of irrigation supply shops have what we call a sand spike or shallow well head just for that purpose. Heck, for that matter, the OP could punch one down and put a hand pump on it and nobody would be the wiser.

Post hole digger on my tractor strikes water at about 3' here now...

Not a great time to be building fence...

Not where I live, but across the White river, the ground was sandy, and water table low. People used to drive wells often. There is a screened point that screws onto a 2 inch well casing that they use, to drive the well. They did not go but maybe 20-25 ft. Then they used sucker rods and a hand pump, but back then you could get jack pumps that ran on electric. They would pull the sucker rods up and down kinda like an oil well does. Water is deeper where I live, and lots of clay to go through. Most all water well here now are 4 inch plastic casing with submersible pumps. Not much trouble except for lightning hitting the motor but would be a hard do it yourself. probably could dig through the clay and then drive the last few feet, but even that would be hard. miles

I've heard then referred to as a sand point, this is different than what I've seen. More modern I guess, maybe better.

I had forgotten about those sand points

It has been pointed out a working head pump is needed for a sand point. I've never used a jet pump, would a jet pull water?

The ones used near here long ago was longer that that, probably 5ft or so. miles

Just as the name suggests the sand point works great in sandy or soft soil. I drove two of them on some cabin land in central Wisconsin, but where my present cabin is no such luck.

The first point/pipe was down to 12 feet in the kitchen area and a simple "pitcher" pump pulled the water. The second one was drove near a horse barn and a electric belt driven piston pump/tank pulled the water.

As I remember they are good to about 50 feet.I had a bigger one setting on a 2" well. 2" in, 1&1/2"out pump. It was down 22 feet and pumped 120 gpm.

Water table was about 4 feet.It was in an area that was once in the Rio Grande river before it changed course many yerars before that

120 gpm from a 2' well, with 1 1/2 " output? Hell of a well. miles

Yea,I had that one for my garden.I had to put up a barrier so it wouldn't wash everything away. It was like trying to water with a fire hose. Our cement irrigation ditch made a heck of a lot more coming off the Rio Grande Conservancy ditch.

Yea,I had that one for my garden.I had to put up a barrier so it wouldn't wash everything away. It was like trying to water with a fire hose. Th kids had 3' deep x 10 f' little swimming pool. I would fill it up darn quick I had to do that a couple times a week because they kept throwing the ducks in three.

Our cement irrigation ditch made a heck of a lot more coming off the Rio Grande Conservancy ditch.

The ones we used were about 5' long and we called them a 'punch'. Never heard one called a 'sand point'.

We may be talking about different things?

Sand points are used where there is no rock.
You simply drive them into the ground, adding pipe as needed.

Here that means going down about 15-20 feet.

https://www.hunker.com/12002722/how-to-install-a-sand-point-well

A friend got tired of dealing with the sulphur in his drilled well water.

He lives in bottom land, and knew the water table wasn't very deep.
So, he dug a deep hole with his backhoe. It filled up with water.
He then filled the hole with crushed limestone and a slotted pipe.
Added a pipe, and was in business. And, no sulphur.


Stuvwxzy,

I can see what you are thinking

And,

I share your concerns, it may be under the "surface",
But he is probably drinking surface water

A few years ago I was thinking about moving to WY around Cody/Greybull. I was surprised at the number of houses we looked at that the only source of water was a spring.Would not that be considered surface water? If it were tested and found safe I suppose it would be OK

Springs are not surface water.

The problem is how one contains the spring and keeps surface water out.

Many of the old farm houses here use springs or dug wells.

These shallow wells are intriguing to say the least. My family has been in the well drilling business for 60 years now and have drilled thousands of wells over the decades. There are some concerns with these home spun wells. As stated earlier if you are west of the Mississippi, all water is under the "priority system". In other words , first in use, first in right. ALL water in most western states is owned by somebody. Most state shuts down these type wells as they are stealing someone else's property. Legality's aside, the states real concern is these wells do not meet the states stringent construction standards. Properly and legally constructed well have a hole drilled 4" larger than the casing to be installed. This larger diameter hole must be at least 40' deep and the annulus is then pressure grouted between the casing and bore hole. No perforated pipe allowed above 40' in most wells. Top water is considered contaminated from animal as well as natural bacteria from plants. By allowing perforated pipe above 40', the surface water can now enter the lower water table and bring with it, its contamination. Without grout every time a dog see's a well they think it is a fire hydrant. Every time he pee's it goes directly to the water table and now your home spun well is contaminating yours and other wells. Somethings to think about.

Just watched The Last Alaskan. In the latest episode, the Seldens install a sand point aka driven well. Within hours they have a fully functional well using a factory sand point and a hammer. I cant understand why they installed it in the middle of the floor instead of next to the kitchen sink. A great concern if the fact I would assume their outhouse is close to the house. State standards in most areas require the closest source of contamination be at least 100' away from a water source. Since they are drinking water at a depth of 4' from the surface, outhouse contamination is very very likely. I HAD an aunt that died of Typhus contracted from a shallow hand dug well. She is buried in Limestone county, Texas in a shared grave with another child that had also died from Typhus from the same well.

Had a close family friend that was in the hole punching business since the '50s.
He had upward of twenty rigs (old school, with class. He wouldn't tell.) Drilling water wells
and holes for the coal mines in Pa, Md and WV Interesting to talk to, wish I had worked for
him as a kid. I know there was a lot of difference between the way he did things, and the
Hillbilly engineering that happens in the woods. Many worship water from springs, he was
afraid of it. Said a spring is either contaminated, or probably will be.

Last time that I looked, Arkansas is West of the Mississippi river and most of what you said about Western Water Rights is wrong, for Arkansas. miles

MILES you are kind of correct. My statement that all water west of the Mississippi is owned was not correct. It should have been "most". In Colorado it is all appropriated. I just attended a 12 hour seminar on water rights. Arkansas is starting to face the same problems that drier western states have been facing for years. I see there are some serious concerns in your state about lack of water especially the eastern part.

Yes there are. Mostly from irrigation using ground water instead of surface water. Pump out of the ground and let it go into the rivers. Wasted. There is a move to use the rivers and rain water for irrigation, but progress is slow. Mostly brought about by high pumping costs instead of efficiency. We have plenty of water but getting the farmers here to work together is hard to do, unless it is applying for Government money. miles

I live in SE AK. We have a high water table. Wells are all surface water. The sand goes down 18-30 feet, then it turns to glacier flour that will never totally clear up. It can be pumped clear, as soon as pumping stops it’s again cloudy. Bedrock at 120-150’ and the water there is salt. Alaska has no well regulation for private residence, commercial and public water sources are supposed to be tested and treated. The on-site septic installer is required keep tanks and drainfields 100’ private and 200’ public from the well. We use sand points or cased submersibles. If you have rocks the sand point probably won’t be drivable. Most auger rigs won’t work either. I’d find a local driller and ask, if possible.