Will Your Well or Pump Fail Due to the Drought?
3 pros!
As the nationwide drought of 2012 has diminished or dried many water wells, well owners are learning it may cost them hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to restore flow.
As extreme drought diminishes or dries wells all over the United States, well owners are learning it may cost them hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to restore flow. One tip for avoiding an unnecessary expense, says a Midwest well expert, is to turn off a pump as soon as you suspect it's pulling only air.
More than 15 million households, or 13 percent of all U.S. households, depend on groundwater captured by wells, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And 25 percent of groundwater begins as rain, says Cliff Treyens, public awareness director of the National Ground Water Association, a trade association that serves well drillers and water scientists. He says there’s no good data on the drought's effects, but it’s clear that well and pump companies nationwide are busier than they’ve been since the housing bubble burst.
He says dropping water levels have left some well pumps high and dry. "Many water well system contractors are very busy going to private well owners, to deepen the existing well, lower the pump deeper into the existing well, or, if that’s not possible, drill a new well,” Treyens says.
Jeff Rash, a well driller and pump installer for Sigman Pump & Well Service, highly rated by Angie’s List members in Indianapolis, says the drought has boosted business by 75 percent, with 50 to 60 calls a week. “It’s crazy busy for us, so we’re putting callers on a list,” he says. “If your well runs your whole house, you get seen first. If it’s just for irrigation, we’ll get there, but you’re on the secondary list.”
Rash says most customers complain of intermittent flow, which often can be fixed for about $500 by dropping the pump 20 or 30 feet further down an existing well. Drilling a new well would cost at least $2,500, he says, with an additional $2,000 if the pump has burned out. “The best advice I can give somebody is if they think there’s a problem, turn the pump off,” Rash says. “That way it’s not pulling up air and burning itself out.”
He believes changing weather patterns will prompt new wells to be drilled at depths deeper than now typical, though he adds that no well is drought-proof. “But if we lower the pump in this extreme drought, then even in an abnormally dry time, we should have fixed the problem,” Rash says.
Well solutions vary by geography
The drought is worst in the Midwest, Plains and parts of the South. Well owners face different problems, solutions and costs, depending on their area’s geography and water system. Mike Overly, vice president of highly rated John's Well Service in Lyons, Colo., says his business is up 25 percent since April as wells dry or slow from lack of mountain snowfall, compounded by the summer drought.
In his area, a common fix is to install, for about $5,000, a cistern to collect and store hundreds or thousands of gallons, but many Plains well owners already have a cistern, Overly says. His preferred method is to “hydrofrac,” applying pressure to create rock fissures that allow more flow. That process also costs about $5,000, he says, compared to $10,000 or $20,000 to drill a new well. “But what I’m telling customers is, based on the 2002 drought, if you can, wait it out, and truck water to your cistern and hope (the water) comes back,” Overly says.
Treyens says that as drought conditions diminish, groundwater recharge rates will depend on geology and local conditions. But however long the dry spells last, he says, they highlight the importance of maintenance. “There are things you want to check regularly, both the well system infrastructure and the water,” he says, advising well owners to hire licensed professionals and to be aware that most states have standards and rules regarding well drilling. A yearly check should include a bacterial test of the water, Treyens says, and such tests should be repeated whenever there’s a change in taste, odor or appearance, or any time a water supply system is serviced.
Overly says maintenance is important, but his most urgent advice is to conserve. “The only way to help yourself through these types of conditions is to use less water,” Overly says, “something we all should be doing anyway.”
