Mike:
Glad to hear you are making progress. The well driller may be right about the screen, they are a wealth of practical information. They do make their living selling wells. If it were me, I'd figure out if the existing well could be rejuvenated before spending money on a new one. The County may make you decomission the old well before issuing a permit for a new well. You might want to check into that anonymously first.
The REGIS system is pretty cool. If you view any one particular watershed the information available is only a fraction of what is needed to calibrate a detailed groundwater flow model. I used to work for the USGS office in Lansing that is helping to compile the data (used to work for the MDEQ too). It takes a team of hydrogeologists months and six figure budgets to prepare such models (very rare in the private sector).
It always makes me a little uneasy to go to a governmental site, zoom in on my property and learn everything about it in 5-minutes. Pretty soon you'll cut down a tree on the back forty and a summons will be delivered to your door three days later.
