Where best to locate your well

GROUNDWATER exploration is not a random proposition. Excess rainwater percolates into the soil and rock underneath the earth’s surface and gathers in what are called aquifers. A well is a hole drilled into an aquifer, and a small portion of groundwater can be pumped to the surface for you to use.

That much you may already know. But the amount of water that can be produced from a site chosen at random can be quite small, which is generally fine for use on farms – but if you want a well to provide water for irrigation, you’ll need to look for a more productive location.

The best of science has been developed to pinpoint the best locations for wells, penetrating into areas with fractured rock, buried beneath the ground’s surface. Wells located in zones such as this will provide far more water than wells drilled into zones with non-fractured rock.

It takes a high level of expertise to locate wells using the fracture-trace technique, but the benefits of choosing the right site are too great to ignore.

These are not the only factors to consider when choosing a site on which to have your well and making sure that it provides adequate levels of clean water.

You should make sure that any well is located, at a minimum, 50 feet from sewers and septic tanks.

They should also be kept at least 100 feet from pastures, sewage system absorption fields, cesspools, and farmyards. If you have a silo, your well should be located at least 25 feet away from it.

One should also discount areas where groundwater comes to within 10 feet of the soil’s surface.

While following these rules will not guarantee you all the clean water you may need, following them will boost your chances of having a well that is clean, reliable, and productive, so it would be foolish to ignore that advice.