# Lawn watering with a private well



## dhmeiser (Sep 18, 2019)

Hi All

Just Joined and am working redoing my lawn, 2 acres of what was weeds and clay

I had to re-do a significant portion of my side lawn as it had drainage issues that the new tractor I purchased this spring would literally get stuck in the mud and had to winch it out of that area. 
From April till about late June it looked like it was used for off-road mudding 
Got fed up as it the soil was saturated that even walking on it made the grass separate from the soil in a slimy mess

Dug a curtain drain and re-sloped the area so water can drain from the back property and my neighbors property to the road culvert, (200 linear feet of drain) trucked in 30 yards of planting soil (soil, sand compost mix) to improve the drainage and crappy clay soil.

Of course now that the area is graded and ready for seed we have not had much rain since early August.

My concern is that I want to get the grass started and keep the area well watered, the area re-graded is about a half acre but I am on a private well for domestic water and don;t want to run the well dry or burn out the pump.

So any suggestions on a strategy for keeping the seed most and growing on this area would be appreciated. I thought of doing the planting in sections to conserve water but I dont think I would be able to get the entire area growing before winter.

BTW I am in NE PA about half way between Philly and Allentown

Thanks in advance!


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## jhealy748 (Jul 25, 2019)

I am on a well but may not be the best example. I just water like its free! :shock:


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## mtroo (Jul 31, 2018)

I currently am irrigating ~18K out of my well. I just replaced my pump, which ran about $1200. This is the 2nd pump in 14 years in the house. I don't worry so much about the cost of the pump. Way cheaper than city water. 
Have you spoken to your well guy? He may be able to give you some guidance in this regard.


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## Delmarva Keith (May 12, 2018)

I agree with @mtroo , get the data from a well expert. Most places with domestic wells require a well yield test to complete the permit and each time a property is sold. The records should be on file in some government office somewhere. If not, a well guy can test the yield and tell you how many gallons are safe to use per day.

Where I am,, there's more fresh water about 50' or so below the surface than anyone would know what to do with. Farmers can pump millions of gallons from that aquifer all growing season and it recharges every Winter. Irrigating lawns is nothing. I keep just shy of an acre of landscape, including 20k of turf wet all Summer. I estimate using about 65,000 gallons a month in the Summer. The water just keeps on coming from the well. The catch is that easy to get to water in an unconfined aquifer that recharges every year can't be used for domestic. A domestic well has to hit one of the deeper aquifers and that water is not so unlimited. Nice and clean, no nitrates, etc., but the confined aquifers are deeper and don't recharge quickly.

Where you are, Bucks County granite and all, I'm assuming a relatively deep well into the rocks, that's also used for domestic water. If it runs dry and silts up, you are well and truly screwed. You might have plenty of water, but you might not. Best bet is find out. Once you know how much water you can safely pump per day, a watering plan will be a lot easier to work out.


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## dhmeiser (Sep 18, 2019)

thanks everyone,

LOL quite frankly never thought about asking the well driller. My house was built in 1907, but it is obvious the well is newer than that, it is a submersible pump and has a metal casing and sanitary connection. I will have to see if if the local driller knows about my well and to see about depth and volume of flow from the well.

We replaced the pump lines and tank about 8 years ago and upgraded to a large tank 60 gallon from our previous 20 gallon tank. as the plumber said that the previous tank made the pump cycle too often and burned it out.

This photo is earlier in the season showing the beginning of the project just after I put the first line in. I added two additional lateral lines to drain behind the trees as that area forms a bowl and one to go behind my neighbors garage as I own the property behind his garage that garage is only about 2 feet from my property line (its the neighbors garage in the picture)


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## MDJoe (Sep 16, 2019)

Good luck. My well yields barely 7 GPM. Fine for the house, but I can't irrigate much more than my veggie garden over the long term.

My entire yard is just over an acre. It's mathematically impossible to irrigate it all, I simply don't have enough water.


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