Water Wells
By Jim Palmer Jr.

This topic has been on my mind in the last few days because instead of being at work, I’m home, trying (not-so-patiently) to obey the Stay-At-Home order from the Governor to help mitigate the spread of the Covid-19 virus. From my desk in my home office, I can hear the steady hum of the drill rig that has worked for a couple of days on my son’s property up the mountain from me. At the start of the day the drill bit was about 500 feet and still turning. It’s not surprising that they haven’t hit any significant water yet, since this area is not known for high producing wells, but when I can hear the distant droning sound of the machine, I know each minute signifies money down a hole. Hopefully they’ll find water soon, before China men (with medical masks) start coming out of the hole.

The risk of well drilling is a strong deterrent for many land buyers since that cost can break the bank depending on how deep the well is. How can a buyer check all this out ahead of time without purchasing something that already has a proven well? Ask your experienced land broker to go to the Department of Ecology website to search for well logs in the area you’re interested in. The well logs show depth, type of substrate, and flow of any recorded well in the area. Once you’ve done that research and have noticed a pattern of depth and flow, you can decide if the risk is worth it to you. You can also calculate the approximate depth and figure the cost by talking to several local drillers who will happily give you a per-foot estimate.

How do you know exactly where to drill? Some people use an old method called witching or dowsing to locate the well site, but some suspicious folks think that is of the devil.  I’ve watched it done many times and know there is something to it (it’s not evil), though scientists have not been able to prove exactly why it works. Of course the dowser can’t tell how much water and how deep, but it’s sure better than an out right guess!

If you don’t get much water when you drill, there are methods to store up water (cisterns) and methods to extract more water (hydro-fracturing) that are proven and worthwhile.