# Using an abandoned well for irrigation



## ALPHA (Aug 25, 2021)

Hey all,
I bought my house about a year ago. I've got around 3 acres of grass that I would like to irrigate. The previous owners drilled a new well prior to sale. As a condition of the sale the old well was to be abandoned but was not lawfully done. They pulled pump out, cut wires and called it good. Because I have this well laying around, not far from where I could plumb a line to irrigation I'm wondering if it could be used for lawn irrigation. Operating the water is non-potable it should suffice for irrigation but further tests would obviously need to be done. I'm assuming a robust booster pump would need to be used to cover the acreage I'm needing to irrigate. Thanks for any and all advice!


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## Factor (Oct 10, 2019)

Call a well man and have them check it all out. A second well is not a bad thing. Why was it to be abandoned?


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## ALPHA (Aug 25, 2021)

I don't have the records from them as to why they chose to abandon it. In my arena high iron in the water is the norm, I wonder if they had enough problems with FE in their samples to abandon it?

In my state proper abandonment involves filling the casing to prevent aquifer contamination, which they did not do. So, as of now I could drop a new pump down, wire it up and draw a line off to a desired spot for irrigation. This could give me irrigation if the water is non potable without pounding in a new well. But a sample of the well will be needed to confirm. Though each case is very specific I'm curious if anyone else has counted this on their property. Thanks!


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## Amoo316 (Jul 8, 2021)

We did not take over an abandoned well, but when we bought our house 11 years ago there were lots of reports of arsenic in counties around us. We called our local ag extension, got directions on how to take a sample and had an analysis performed. Our water was GTG, outside of copper levels leaching from the pump itself as everything is PVC. Replaced the valve at bottom of pickup, pump and added a booster. FWIW Our well is a shallow well (about 25').


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