Hand Pumped Swallow Water Well

[JbobG]

In a true SHTF scenario, water will be the new gold, as it's obviously the most essential commodity for survival in both the short and the long term.
I live in a semi-rural area supplied by a city municipal water works and am not confident that this service would continue normally, if at all, when it all goes down.
With that in mind, I've decided to purchase a well point, couplings, an antique pitcher hand pump, along with a drive cap, and to start driving water pipe into the ground.
Are there any of you who have experience with this? If so, do you have any advice, tips, etc, before I start my project? Any idea of the water table depth in the Yukon/El Reno area? Is a 20 foot hand Pumped water well even feasible in this topography?

Thx, mike

 

[Uncle TK]

You don't just drive a pipe in the ground!
1) Drill a hole 4-6 inches wide until you reach the water table maybe 20-30 feet deep
2) On the bottom of your galvanized pipe you attach a feeder pipe with small holes in it so the water can get in.
3) If you use steel pipe you will have rusty water
4) Pour pea gravel in around the pipe so water can flow to bottom

 

[RETOKSQUID]

Get the water tested once you have done this. Have had friends dig wells only to discover that the water they obtained was not able to be used due to contamination.

 

[chuter]

Check Youtube for DIY water wells, there's some good ideas out there if they'll work in your location.

 

[Aku]

If you live in an area with municipal water, I would check city code. There's probable an ordinance prohibiting having a water well on individual pieces of property that is serviced by the city.

 

[cowadle]

i have driven wells before but long ago. buy the special pipe and couplers that have the special thread for driving or the y will split. make sure the screen and gauze on the point match the formation conditions. make sure you drive in an area that has water bearing formation in the sand and that it can be reached in your area. dig a pit the deeper the better and then auger a hole in the bottom of the pit as deep as you can 3 0r 4 feet. as you drive turn the point 1/4 turn clockwise every so often and keep the point full of water. occasionally top of the water and see if the pipe takes water. when the pipe takes water pretty fast you know you are in the water formation. enjoy your new well

 

[swampratt]

I live near reno and mustang road.
I have a well in the back yard. Here before the neighborhood was built WoodRun neighborhood.
My well is 75 feet and the water runs out after 45 minutes and stinks like sewage but clear as day.

My neighbor had a well drilled and hit at 75 feet also and it ran out quickly and then the company drilled it to the next layer of water and that was 200 feet and that water was tested and not fit to drink.
Waste of time and money but he tried.

Does not mean a thing as your water may be better where you are at.

I had a property in Canadian Ok near Arrowhead state park.
7 acres and it had an old well on it that I was told was there when the stage coaches came into town.
General store was next door and was a regular old house then.

Anyway the well was just a hole in the ground and a couple uprights and a top bar with a hanging rope and cup a 3 foot long galvanized "cup" you lowered with a rope into the water
and then pulled it up and dumped the water from the bottom of it.
No pump needed.

That water was excellent.

 

[HoLeChit]

That's great advice. I figure the oil rigs around my localation have polluted the ground waters, if not the very aquifers. Even so, in an emergency, polluted water is better than no water. I'm sure I'll need a top-notch filter. I have a Berkee, but to be honest I don't trust it.

Typically, the chance of pollution in the water supply from drilling/fracking is extremely limited. If I remember right most of the wells in that area are roughly 5-6,000 feet deep before the lateral, and are encased in cement. But, it always good to check for contamination. Irresponsibly dumped waste and agricultural chemicals can really mess up a water table.

I know very little about water wells, but wouldn’t PVC be a cheaper/easier way to run the pipe for your well? It doesn’t corrode, is easily repaired with simple hand tools, and it’s cheap. Our well we had growing up in Choctaw was 100ft deep or better and was all pvc.

 

[Oklahomabassin]

Typically, the chance of pollution in the water supply from drilling/fracking is extremely limited. If I remember right most of the wells in that area are roughly 5-6,000 feet deep before the lateral, and are encased in cement. But, it always good to check for contamination. Irresponsibly dumped waste and agricultural chemicals can really mess up a water table.

I know very little about water wells, but wouldn’t PVC be a cheaper/easier way to run the pipe for your well? It doesn’t corrode, is easily repaired with simple hand tools, and it’s cheap. Our well we had growing up in Choctaw was 100ft deep or better and was all pvc.

I think he was wanting to drive it in (Force it in) being the reasoning for the galvanized pipe.

 

[HoLeChit]

I think he was wanting to drive it in (Force it in) being the reasoning for the galvanized pipe.

Ah, makes sense.