# Irrigation Well



## beneb (Jul 9, 2018)

Anybody have experience with Irrigation Wells? i.e. a dedicated well to supply your irrigation system
Trying to do my best to optimize spending and keep costs down where possible. We have city water (community well) at my house and during the hot and dry summer months, the bills can get pretty expensive. I asked the water company a couple years ago to put a separate meter on the line for my sprinkler system so they wouldn't charge me sewer fees for all those gallons going back into the ground, but at the time they said no. I did a little research online about irrigation wells, and found a site (www.drillyourownwell.com) that talks about drilling your own, which I thought was a pretty cool option. I called a local well drilling service to see what they would charge to put a well in for a comparison, and they said $8-10k because it would have to be 160-180ft deep. Don't think I can get the DIY method to go down that far, but don't really want to drop that kind of coin to have a well put in either--it would take a long time to break even on the water bills... I was almost wondering if they threw out the number just to discourage me from pursuing a DIY option (didn't tell them I was looking into it, but maybe the guy was wise to my game). I'm in NW Indiana, and there aren't any nearby USGS sites that would give me a hint at the water level--they are all right by the Lake Michigan shoreline. There are some homes down the road that I'm fairly certain have wells--is my best bet to knock on the door and ask them how deep their well is?

*tl;dr*--city water is expensive, so is getting a well installed. DIY options are questionable. Might be SOL

Looking for cost effective options for lowering the cost of success. Any advice out there?


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## Smokindog (Jun 20, 2018)

Sorry for the lengthy post, I guess I just kept thinking of stuff!!!

I always thought they HAD to put in a separate meter if requested (for a nominal cost that is).

CAUTION, you said community well and Chicagoland so make sure they're not already and/or planning on "taxing" the water you take from the aquifer they use for their supply. I know areas of TX that have attempted such well surcharges.

I put in an irrigation well around May of 2014. I just recently passed break even. I'm on 2.5 acres in an "estate neighborhood". I water about 30K ft of Bermuda and another 25K ft of St. Augustine plus probably 5-10K ft of planting beds.

In my area of Texas water is expensive. It was not uncommon to get $1K bills in the hottest summer months for sustenance level watering.

The consensus estimates for drilling was about $8-9K, the electric about $1.5K (I had an EXTREMELY long run from the service panel), and the hookup/detach from the municipal supply about $1K.

None of the drillers wanted to deal with my Town (bad reputation with ALL trades) so I volunteered to do all the permitting and we took that off their cost. I also did all the irrigation hook up/detach except for the final double check inspection (required by statute) and all the electric rough in myself. There should have been no reason why I couldn't do all the electric but the Town required a licensed eletrician attached to the well permit or they wouldn't permit the well. In hindsight, had I run the electric first before beginning the well it would not have been an issue. In Texas and I believe everywhere, a homeowner is allowed to do any/all of their own work (technically would have required a permit but not a licensed electrician).

All the drillers I spoke with had a lot of information about anything/everything with respect to the presence of water on my property but just in case they let you know a dry hole would only save the cost of the pump and a few registration fees (<$1K). My neighbor and I both had the same guy do wells and saved a little. A guy up the street tried one a year later but ended up with a dry hole. He is about 125 feet higher in elevation and was on the other side of the street by 200-300 yards. The driller told him it was likely to not hit a shallow well on his location. We've got two major aquifers in our area and drilling to the deep source would be 3-4 times the $$. My neighbor to the other side has a deep well and has for years.

My well is about 120-130 ft deep with the pump hung around 90-100 and they hit water bearing sand at about 20-30 feet. I got plenty of flow/pressure from the well to not have to adjust my existing sprinkler system. BE CAUTIOUS. There are "irrigation professionals" out there that will monitor permits and be knocking at your door to sell you a few thousand dollars in updates to your system because you switched to a well. Do some research on your own before taking anything they tell you at face value. It's like roofers after a storm. My neighbor did not and they took him for splitting zones, .....

Anyway. I found the well to be worth the money. I reduced my water bills AND switched from sustenance level watering to a level the lawn wanted. Bermuda is a thirsty lawn!!!! I also have tapped into the sprinkler main at multiple points on the property to provide well water hose bibs for all outside needs, further cutting my water use.

The process was much less painful because I educated myself first. Sounds like you're on that path. It took me a year of research before I pulled the trigger.

https://www.irrigationtutorials.com/#sprinkler

The entire process once the permits were approved was less than a month. The well was dug in a day, took another day to hang the pump and plumb, they ran it full out for 24 hours to both flush and measure, and then I hooked it to the system (My main line ran within 20 feet of the well so I trenched to it and tied in.

Hope this helps!


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## monkeygrass (Jul 30, 2017)

Out of _all_ of the possessions I have spent money on, I don't believe any surpass the pure pleasure (piece of mind) of having a water well for irrigation. Obviously everybody's circumstances and ROIs are unique but for someone who would otherwise be bound by draconian watering regulations, the well is the key to enjoying my lawn and landscape.


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## Smokindog (Jun 20, 2018)

What ever happened to the push to "surcharge" well water in the Austin area??


monkeygrass said:


> Out of _all_ of the possessions I have spent money on, I don't believe any surpass the pure pleasure (piece of mind) of having a water well for irrigation. Obviously everybody's circumstances and ROIs are unique but for someone who would otherwise be bound by draconian watering regulations, the well is the key to enjoying my lawn and landscape.


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## monkeygrass (Jul 30, 2017)

Smokindog said:


> What ever happened to the push to "surcharge" well water in the Austin area??


There is a $10 monthly fee added to the City of Austin water bill of well owners, as well as a back-flow prevention requirement at the meter that must be certified annually ($50). The argument is that we _could_ cross-contaminate if we were silly enough to connect our well irrigation lines to the main water line. In my opinion, it was more of a swipe at the relatively recent phenomenon of urban wells. The City knows they have little control over the Texas rule-of-capture in areas that aren't in a Water Conservation District and did all they could to push back. In Austin, any neighborhood north of the Colorado River is currently not in a District.


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## Smokindog (Jun 20, 2018)

Ya, I've never seen anyone leave their hose in a swimming pool 

I had to completely disconnect from the main supply for my well permit which was just fine. I was required to put in a double check at the well head which the Town said was State required. I could find no such requirement, nor could they, but the $250 for the double check and inspection was easier than arguing at the time.

It would burn me to have to be paying the $170 per plus time to schedule but sometimes you just can't beat City Hall and it stinks!

At least it wasn't the "a meter and 50% rate of City water cost" I was reading about at one time.



monkeygrass said:


> Smokindog said:
> 
> 
> > What ever happened to the push to "surcharge" well water in the Austin area??
> ...


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## monkeygrass (Jul 30, 2017)

Smokindog said:


> It would burn me to have to be paying the $170 per plus time to schedule but sometimes you just can't beat City Hall and it stinks!
> 
> 
> monkeygrass said:
> ...


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## Smokindog (Jun 20, 2018)

Ya, I agree. My water from the well is so good I even run my misting system on the back patio without issues. If push came to shove, I'd drink it.

Being retired I sometimes need to look for some trouble to spice things up so I will set my sprinklers to run in the heat of the day when I see the "Town water snoops and/or the HOA snoops" driving around.

The Town did leave me a citation once. I took it in and asked them why I got such a citation since I had a well. They said, "We didn't know you had a well.". I handed them the 1/2 inch of permits and 100's of dollars in cancelled checks and asked them how they could NOT know?

The citation was torn up 



monkeygrass said:


> Even factoring in the $170 annual tribute, I feel like I am beating City Hall. The poor guy who gets caught watering outside of the one-night-a-week schedule is fined $500. None of that craziness applies to properties with a well.
> 
> Then there is also the public shaming that the top-10 residential water users receive annually in the Austin American-Statesman. Good times. My use -- of untreated water -- would come nowhere near this list of municipal water users but it still feels good knowing that I am off the grid in this respect.
> 
> https://www.mystatesman.com/news/local/austin-top-single-family-water-user-2017-congressman/LEKkHpucy3d9oGkuEqeWfL/


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## JDgreen18 (Jun 14, 2018)

Smokindog said:


> Sorry for the lengthy post, I guess I just kept thinking of stuff!!
> 
> In my area of Texas water is expensive. It was not uncommon to get $1K bills
> 
> Hope this helps!


Holy smokes $1000....my last water bill was $202 bucks for 3 months


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## Smokindog (Jun 20, 2018)

When I moved from Cincinnati in '92 I left behind a $42 per quarter water/sewer/trash bill 


JDgreen18 said:


> Smokindog said:
> 
> 
> > Sorry for the lengthy post, I guess I just kept thinking of stuff!!
> ...


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## beneb (Jul 9, 2018)

Thanks for all the excellent info! I don't have quite that much lawn to water--closer to 11k sqft, so it would definitely take a while longer to pay off. The other thing that drives me nuts...I moved from Illinois (Crook county) to Indiana, about 20 minutes south just over the border, and now I pay monthly what I had been paying quarterly when I lived in IL. It's one of the things on a very short list that I miss about living on the other side of the border.

I did manage to find some decent data for well drilling logs today. 
https://indnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4b4f37e1dde744ce865e1be4d157ac93
Has a handful of logs within a half mile or so of my house. Quite a few of them say the static water level is in the 25'-50' range, but most of the wells are still 80-100'+ deep. Still learning about the intricacies of wells, but that doesn't totally make sense to me. I'm thinking they drill deeper to reduce the likelihood of contamination of the water. I also thought I read something about having to drill until they hit some sort of rock layer. I'm wondering if I'd be able to pull off a shallow well for irrigation, despite what one of the local outfits told me. Maybe I'll call around to a few more companies to get some input.


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## Smokindog (Jun 20, 2018)

Here's some info that should help.

http://mbmggwic.mtech.edu/sqlserver/v11/help/welldesign.asp

http://www.iowadnr.gov/Portals/idnr/uploads/water/wse/Water_Level_Guide.pdf



beneb said:


> Thanks for all the excellent info! I don't have quite that much lawn to water--closer to 11k sqft, so it would definitely take a while longer to pay off. The other thing that drives me nuts...I moved from Illinois (Crook county) to Indiana, about 20 minutes south just over the border, and now I pay monthly what I had been paying quarterly when I lived in IL. It's one of the things on a very short list that I miss about living on the other side of the border.
> 
> I did manage to find some decent data for well drilling logs today.
> https://indnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4b4f37e1dde744ce865e1be4d157ac93
> Has a handful of logs within a half mile or so of my house. Quite a few of them say the static water level is in the 25'-50' range, but most of the wells are still 80-100'+ deep. Still learning about the intricacies of wells, but that doesn't totally make sense to me. I'm thinking they drill deeper to reduce the likelihood of contamination of the water. I also thought I read something about having to drill until they hit some sort of rock layer. I'm wondering if I'd be able to pull off a shallow well for irrigation, despite what one of the local outfits told me. Maybe I'll call around to a few more companies to get some input.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I don't have experience with Wells, but I know you want to go deeper than static so you could continue to draw water for longer runtimes. When you irrigate, you could run the system at 10-15gpm for 4-8 hr (depends on lot size). You want water available during this time so you don't run the system dry. It takes some time (recharge) for the water to flow thru the soil and fill the void you created. Therefore, deeper = better.

Edit: Smokindog link explains it better than I did.


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## Delmarva Keith (May 12, 2018)

If the aquifer you are trying to hit is used by others for drinking water then you should not try to DIY a well. Surface water contamination is a real thing and a DIY doesn't have the tools or materials to properly seal out surface water.

In my State wells can only be drilled by a licensed well driller with permit in hand for the well. If the shallow Columbia aquifer got contaminated it could wipe out household, municipal and farm wells in several States. That would be bad. Water moves far.

Payback for a drilled well varies a lot. I have a dedicated irrigation well but if I had it to do over again, I might not have done it. When I really started dialing in the irrigation I found I could use a lot less water per year than I thought. One thing that helps a lot is to zone separately for water needs, i.e., think about how much sun each area gets when laying out the zones. Full sun areas do use a boatload of water but it declines pretty sharply as degree of shade factors in. If mixed full sun and partial shade areas end up on the same zone, a lot of water is wasted. Waste less and you will spend less.


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## beneb (Jul 9, 2018)

Delmarva Keith said:


> If the aquifer you are trying to hit is used by others for drinking water then you should not try to DIY a well. Surface water contamination is a real thing and a DIY doesn't have the tools or materials to properly seal out surface water.
> 
> In my State wells can only be drilled by a licensed well driller with permit in hand for the well. If the shallow Columbia aquifer got contaminated it could wipe out household, municipal and farm wells in several States. That would be bad. Water moves far.
> 
> Payback for a drilled well varies a lot. I have a dedicated irrigation well but if I had it to do over again, I might not have done it. When I really started dialing in the irrigation I found I could use a lot less water per year than I thought. One thing that helps a lot is to zone separately for water needs, i.e., think about how much sun each area gets when laying out the zones. Full sun areas do use a boatload of water but it declines pretty sharply as degree of shade factors in. If mixed full sun and partial shade areas end up on the same zone, a lot of water is wasted. Waste less and you will spend less.


That's good advice. After looking over some of the info and logs that I found for local wells, it is pretty clear that its a well regulated industry--with good reason. 
I'll have to review my system again and see if there are opportunities to reduce water usage. The majority of my yard is full sun, so it may not be much, but even a little improvement means something. Plus, its probably not a terrible idea to re-audit/calibrate my zones again to make sure I'm still getting the output I think I'm getting.


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