Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations To well or not to well?

Zep, I had a dowser/water witch "find" water on my place. It works but I certainly can't do it.

I only get about 1/10 gpm but it does that 24 hrs per day into a 2,500 gallon storage tank. Certainly not enough to use for a pond but since we can time my Wifes showers by the calendar instead of the clock, it suffices.

Thanks Dave. The well would be for a small cabin not the pond, but I must admit I enjoy long warm showers. So what does it cost to use a "witch" and I suppose the "witch" is separate entity from the well digging company? And well digging companies are cool with following the witch advice? Do you know how many GPM a typical house needs to have a nice comfortable good pressure shower?

Aeration is a good idea, but so is the well. In the regulation crazy country we live in you soon won't be able to drill a well. Also if you suffer thru a drought like we had last year, your pond will be gone or severely damaged without a well. Good luck.

Sniper....it is getting crazy. I am moving my office and was told yesterday by a builder and the mgt company that I can no longer choose standard/typical light switches in the new space. They have to be motion detector light switches which are more expensive and really don't work all that well. They said they have had lots of complaints about people sitting at their desks for long periods and the room light goes out. They need to just assign a gvt worker to each and every one of us to hold our hand for every decision we make in life!

Dowser's best friend ....

Zep, one of my drillers uses a guy who can "witch" for water and they came out at no charge and gave me an idea of where they think water is at. And if they find a dry hole, there is no charge; they will drill again. Interesting fact about the other driller; he don't use witcher and just drills, but if he get a dry hole then he charges you 10 per foot (average 2k) for each dry hole. A neighbor up the road a mile, had 2 dry holes. OUCH!

In the end, I know I won't use him even though he apparently dug the original well on our property.

I say if you can afford to have the well drilled, then do it. As others have said, with the regulation crazy world we are living in, you never know when a moratorium on will drilling could be put in place.

As for the aeration issue, my two acre pond is filled solely by a well. There is no run-off or ground water flow into the pond. The well can raise the water level between 1 1/2 and 2 inches in a 24 hour period. The water comes out of a 6 inch pipe, falls about three feet onto a broken pile of concrete, and flows into the pond. I did this to help oxygenate the ground water as it enters the pond. Does it work? I have never had a fish kill as a result of pumping water into the pond. I usually run the well for three consecutive days every month or every other month in the spring, summer, and fall (ice-out to freeze up).

Nebucks that is good information to know. If I go forward with the well. it will be about 30-40 ft away from the pond so I was thinking of creating a a stream of rocks (20 ft or so) for the water to flow over before it hits the pond. That should help oxygenate it enough before it hits the water.

Nebucks how many GPM are you pumping? My rough calculations are about 60 GPM?

You know, I am ashamed to admit this, but I don't really know. I will do some checking when I get home from work and let you know. I do know that the flow coming out will knock a 240 lbs person on his rear end.

Sounds like a great way to get rid of salesmen!

Zep, I checked around and found a guy who could witch. He did it for no charge. This was after a crooked driller drilled 2 supposedly dry holes.

Expect the drilling company to ask where you want the hole to be drilled.

Not so George, I have seen it done, on my place and elsewhere with a forked willow branch. The downward pull was so hard that the bark was breaking on the stick. Then I touched the stick and it ended. He could do it again but I couldn't and can't. Scientific? No. Explainable? NO. Did it work? Yes.

thats pretty neat Dave
learn something every day

i am gonna do some more asking around in
the area to see if anybody has a well

My answer would be where there's water......

A buddy showed me how he witched with 2 bent coathangers. He did it, then had me do the same thing. They did the same thing in my hands as they did in his and it was really, really eerie!

I've tried it several times and been hugely unsuccessful. One time I was using a couple of bent brass brazing rods. As I walked along one of them swung. Only one. I questioned whether it was a fluke. When I went back over the place nothing happened. However I contacted a buddy that can dowse. He got a forked stick and it did pull down noticeably at the spot. He got me to try it and nothing happened. Then he did it and got me to put both hands on the wood. It stopped pulling down. Some can do it and others can't. I can't.

IIRC, pro geologist Dave in El Dorado Calif, posted drilling a 300ft dry hole, location staked by a water witcher?

I just wonder what the % of dry holes for either oil or water would be if we could compare dowsers to geologists.

Hydrologists have the edge Dave - me and DIED are rock knockers!!!

Well, in your case I guess that is an incurable affliction.

I heard that. When we had a place in the Kerrville area of Hill Country, just the "permit" to drill a well was $400. Who knows what it is today.

Never hear the phrase "never say never"?

Well I decided to go forward with the well and I was going to go with the guy who brought out guy who "witched" where to drill. Needless to say after 3 weeks and one excuse after another ( and lying to me) I fired him from the project and had to go back to the other driller that I wasn't going to use with my tail between my legs. They graciously were willing to take my money (surprise) and just today finished drilling it.

The good news is they found water @ the 160ft mark and it will produce 25 GPM, even better than my house well. So once we get power out to it, we can start filling the pond back up.

So much for the cheaper guy.......

Good for you, Bossone. In the end you got what you wanted.
I'm thinking about a well too, and talked to a local. He's well respected and
is quoting about $10/ft and wants to go 200'. By the time I get electricity, and pump,
etc, I'm guessing that it'll cost me close to $5k. Is that "in the ballpark"?
I've got someone coming tomorrow to replace my compressor (someone took it, and I've had no AC this year), and do some HVAC work and that's going to cost $4k. The well is going to have to wait. I hate to spend that money and not have any going toward my little pond.

Congrats on the well, I still cannot get someone out to my place and even think about drilling a well.

The driller that I used for my place, and who also is very well known in this area is flat out too busy. I have to do some searching for another driller. The local lake is having sewers put in, and that allows wells to be drilled where none were allowed before. Last time I talked to his wife, he was putting in on average, 2 a day. She also said she didn't know if he could drill one as large as needed, but when I talked to him earlier, he never said that. Personally, I think he's making more per hour doing the smaller 4" projects.

But, business is business and I'll continue to look.

The driller I am using is running 2 units and still 2 weeks out. I should find out today when they will hook up the pump etc.

Those of you with wells to feed your pond; how are you running the water into your ponds? Straight into the pond? Over rocks? Spraying in the air? Any pictures would be nice