Wells and boreholes, merged topic.

[emordnilap]

I'm thinking of drilling a borehole, even though I'm on mains water, as a backup against mains failure or summers dry enough for my garden to need more water than I can afford to buy. Is that doomerish ? A bit too "prepper" ? Or just a reaction to a heatwave and lots of news about climate change.

No, a good prep. Just don't tell anyone. Go for it.

We've a deep well, dependent upon electricity, but also a second borehole down which water is available via a handpump (not as deep as our main one). We also have a shallow well, tarted up to look ornamental but is our third back up and the water is reachable via a bucket or even climbing down a ladder.

[adam2]

"This article was first published in the Financial Times"

I don't read it any more, not since I ceased working for them and couldn't get it free.
( Not as a journalist I hasten to add ).
If you're looking for a paper to put down in the guinea pig hutch I wholeheartedly recommend it, very absorbent.


Perhaps I'm getting too doomerish, it's probably going to work out OK for my generation, but I have kids and grandkids. Can it possibly be "OK" for them too ? Is the orchard I'm planting and the soil I'm building worth the effort ?

I'm thinking of drilling a borehole, even though I'm on mains water, as a backup against mains failure or summers dry enough for my garden to need more water than I can afford to buy. Is that doomerish ? A bit too "prepper" ? Or just a reaction to a heatwave and lots of news about climate change.

Honestly, I don't know any more. It seems that my plans were clearer when the future seemed less clear, now I read more and more predictions of collapse I feel less certain what to do about it. Perhaps the advice to see less news might be good for me.

A borehole or well is IMHO an excellent prep, but with one drawback. AFAIK, some form of licence or permit is needed and a fee is payable for this.
Payment of this wastes money that might be badly needed for other purposes, but also probably places you on a database of "emergency water sources that can be requisitioned, think of the babies"
A private borehole on a property served with mains water might attract attention and suggest the presence of food or fuel stocks that could be requisitioned. Or perhaps it might be better to take over the whole property, in the national interest of course.

Not telling anyone and paying no fee might be tempting, but is presumably an offence. And of course you cant use an illegal borehole on a significant scale during a normal drought, since your well watered garden would attract attention.

Any well or borehole should EITHER be reachable with a bucket on a rope, or should be equipped with duplicated pumps, either hand operated or off grid electric.
Remember that lift umps cant lift water from deeper than about 10 meters, and that cheaper types are unreliable at a lift of more than about 7 meters.
A force pump can pump from any depth given suitable design and enough power.

In a TEOTWAWKI situation, a hand pump as used for real ale in a public house can be used as a lift pump for a shallow well. In any serious disaster, pubs would soon be looted of food and drink, but I doubt that the average looter would consider a hand pump worth looting.

[dustiswhatweare]

Yes, you do need a licence to extract water via a borehole. You also need to get the water tested because some groundwater isn't exactly pure. In my part of the world it requires extensive filtration, to the extent it would be much easier to collect rainwater. Which I do, doubtless that's also an offence of some kind. I find that offensive in itself, in the same way that I find it offensive that Betty owns the seabed.

[BritDownUnder]

It would be worth creating a separate thread on a borehole as this is something I am considering. I have even bought the hand auger to do it - it is one metre lengths up to 9 metres. Mine would be a 'stealthy' borehole with no government approval which is required in Australia.

In Australia boreholes are fairly common and are most commonly identified from the many bladed wind pumps.

In terms of physics a pump (whether mechanical or electrically operated) located on the surface can only draw water from a maximum depth of about 10 meters when the borehole is located at sea level due to atmospheric pressure. Any deeper than that and the pump must be located at the bottom of the well.

I would welcome any comments on hand dug boreholes. So far I have gone down to about 1 meter in a few minutes. I expect the deeper it gets the slower the progress of digging will be. I have also seen another method of hand digging boreholes whereby a hollow heavy pipe is dropped down a hole attached to a string and then pulled up bringing a 'plug' of material with it thus deepening the hole a little bit after every drop.

[kenneal - lagger]

It would probably be best to chamfer the pipe on the inside so that any plug is slightly compressed to help it stay in the tube and the cut line is the full diameter of the tube.

[adam2]

Be very careful if hand digging a well, there is a risk of fatal collapse.

A borehole too narrow to admit a person is of course safer. Purpose made equipment for hand drilling a modest depth borehole is available. A deep borehole will generally require a specialist.
The useful textbook "Engineering in emergencies" contains instructions on both hand dug wells and drilled boreholes.

[kenneal - lagger]

Be very careful if hand digging a well, there is a risk of fatal collapse.
........

That's why most wells were dug inside the brick liner which was then built up from the top as it sunk down into the diggings. They do the same thing today only with bloody great reinforced concrete rings and a backhoe digger in place of navvies.

[Catweazle]

I already have a spring which flows well for most of the year, but slowed to a trickle in July. I'm pretty sure there is a decent aquifer under there, as a field next to mine contains a copse of trees and a spring that is the source of a river that runs all the way to the Teifi.

Does anyone know the legal requirements for using water from a spring ? Does digging a "sump" and putting a pump in it count as "extraction" ?

[BritDownUnder]

This website may be a good first point of reference. Looks like the Environment Agency is the government department to ask for a borehole abstracting >20m3 per day. Less than that who knows?

Another discussion here.

[kenneal - lagger]

I intend to collect all our rainwater and pump it to a reservoir at the top of our land about 20 metres above our house. From there I was intending to let it flow down hill through a sand filter and UV light treatment on the way back to the house. I have a couple of high lift (100 m) multi stage pumps which I was given several years ago that I was going to use for this. Once the water is at the top of the hill gravity takes over. I was originally going to build an open reservoir but I think that a closed concealed system using buried IBC containers would be the safer option. An IBC container is about the right size for a sand filter for a house as well.

[adam2]

I already have a spring which flows well for most of the year, but slowed to a trickle in July. I'm pretty sure there is a decent aquifer under there, as a field next to mine contains a copse of trees and a spring that is the source of a river that runs all the way to the Teifi.

Does anyone know the legal requirements for using water from a spring ? Does digging a "sump" and putting a pump in it count as "extraction" ?

Apart from the legal position, be very careful if "digging a sump" or making any other alterations. It is easy to destroy the spring and permanently loose your water supply. Consider letting the water flow naturally as it does now, and then collecting it a little way down stream.

[emordnilap]

Using an unauthorised borehole, I'd say make sure you have plenty of rainwater storage to account for any well-watered vegetation that may help explain it. Some things have to be kept under your hat, so to speak.

[Catweazle]

I already have a spring which flows well for most of the year, but slowed to a trickle in July. I'm pretty sure there is a decent aquifer under there, as a field next to mine contains a copse of trees and a spring that is the source of a river that runs all the way to the Teifi.

Does anyone know the legal requirements for using water from a spring ? Does digging a "sump" and putting a pump in it count as "extraction" ?

Apart from the legal position, be very careful if "digging a sump" or making any other alterations. It is easy to destroy the spring and permanently loose your water supply. Consider letting the water flow naturally as it does now, and then collecting it a little way down stream.

That makes a lot of sense Adam, thanks. The safe approach would be to dam the flow further down the hill and pump it from there, leaving the spring untouched, and avoiding the risk that the spring might simply divert to rise on someone elses land.

[adam2]

A farmer near me has had a borehole drilled and found the water to be "disgusting" with an odd mineral taste. Analysis shows high total dissolved solids but otherwise good quality and "fit for drinking" Cows wont touch it.

[Catweazle]

A trawl through the Bay of E netted two used but good quality borehole pumps, 1.1kw, 125 litre with 63m head, each with a good quality hydrovar inverter and pressure transducer. It was a bit of a slog to Dorset to collect, but great to see my parents in Bristol on the way. £225 for the lot, it's a bargain.