Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Then & Now Pics...........

Hi NE.KS [sorry, can't risk, "Hi Handsome" if I want to retain the shred of credibility I have on the forum]

I think it would be useful to contact neighbors and ask them what their experiencs are with well performance and who they used to punch their wells. Then, I'd call the well drillers and get their opinions on water availability. Seems a good place to start. I realize some areas differ greatly in groundwater availability...but if you go deep enough, I think generally there's more water to target.

In SE NE we average 29" of precipitation annually. So, the standard formula is it requires 33 acres of watershed to manage a 1 acre pond. That's a very rough rule, obviously, as pond depth, what the watershed vegetation consists of, etc. My point is, for a .5 acre pond, if our stats are similar, you'd need 17-20 acres of watershed to keep water levels managed.

I don't think dropping $10k on a 5 GPM well is necessarily a great idea - but again I'd spend some time researching with neighbors and local well drillers to get a better idea of what you're dealing with.
If you can access 15-20 GPM that, IMO, would be worth the effort of punching a well. Again, that's just how passionate I am about my ponds...not the right answer for everyone.