Water: drill (dig) your own well

If you don’t have access to water supply network, you can harvest rainwater, or use water you have on-site. If you have access to groundwater, you need to dig or drill a well to be able to use it.

Having your own well is a good idea. It is a reliable source of water, and the water in most cases is clean enough to be potable. So the only investment you need to make is to drill or dig the well, and to pump the water to the surface.

As mentioned, you need to have a water pump that is suitable for your well. Some wells are very shallow, some might be even as deep as over 100 feet (30 meters). I was told that on my lot the groundwater is below 30 meters… Such wells must be drilled, shalow ones may be dug as well.

The water pump is not enough if you need your water to be supplied directly to your faucets. The pump does provide enough pressure to pump the water to desired height, but it provides the pressure only when it’s working. If you turn it off, water won’t flow. Because of that, you need additional device, a pressurized tank that will hold some water (like 100 liters, equivalent to 26.4 gallons). When the water in the tank drops below a certain level, the pump is turned on, and it fills the tank. When you open any valve, pressurized air in the tank pushes the water out. Because of that, the pump works only several times each day, saving a lot of energy used in other case to power it.


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2 responses to “Water: drill (dig) your own well”

  1. mike3325 Avatar

    You might try looking at http://www.drillyourownwell.com There is a technique there for drilling your own shallow water well for irrigation and geothermal use.

  2. […] that, I will have my own water source (drilled well and pump, probably also rainwater harvesting system), septic tank, maybe composting toilets, and a […]

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