I just had a call today and this was the question that came up first. And really most times, after giving me a bit of a description of their situation, the area, and the yield of wells the neighbors may have, this is most often the first question a caller will ask after saying they found us on the Web. With this question I have to think that someone has said to them that water may be tough to find where they are, or they or their neighbor have had trouble with a new or existing well.
If your thinking of drilling in a known dry belt our answer is its' always a good idea but even if it may appear to be a reasonable good groundwater area, we consider our survey a very wise investment in nearly any situation. From doing side by side small lot developments, both big and small, we know that wells only 30-40 meters apart can often vary by more than 100+ % in yield and sometimes depth. If its 20 vs.30 gpm not so big a deal as both are lots of water, but when its 1 or 2 gpm it is, or might become one the first time you water your garden and try to shower at the same time. When you get into the areas just off the foothills and into mountains, the variance can be even worse, and it becomes possible to miss water by a few inches.
Though we have seen and experienced this on a few larger projects our best example is a 40 acre property we surveyed a couple of years ago that was eventually developed into 10 lots in southern AB. Before our survey the clients had drilled on one of the proposed lots and got 2-3 gpm and then proceeded to drill 3-4 fairly deep DRY HOLES on different lots.We are talking thousands of dollars up in smoke. at That point they gave us a call and we surveyed each of the remaining 9 lots with an average of 4 sounding sites per lot the following weekend. After analyzing the data we considered most of the surveyed sites medium to very high risk for successful well development but as directed by the client we selected potential sites from what data presented as the the best sounding site to drill on, for each lot. They started on the strongest sites and went on from there, best to worse. The driller obtained water on each of the 9 lots though one lot (the last one) required a 2nd attempt, due to the pump testing not being better than the 1 gpm required to license that lot for development. The range in depth on the 10 completed wells varied between 27 meters to 90 meters with yields varying from 1 to 9 gpm. In dollars that meant somewhere close to $3000 cost for the 27 meter and the deepest one at close to 10,000.00. Sometimes there are no options and there is only one good shot but note that some of the most expensive holes had the lesser yields.
This project showed us very clearly how different the yield and depths can turn out in pretty close proximity to one another. It was only a 1/4 of a 1/4 section. That is not that much ground at surface. So yes at the time we expected some variation but not as much as there was. That was before this particular survey and this is now.
A survey will most times maximize your return on investment as well as the yield you can acquire.There are instances where we simply say don't drill because the data just didn't show us enough water from the work we did to go after so we save you from the cost of an expensive dry hole. Each sounding site we do for a survey is the next best thing to doing actual test holes with a typical 4- 6 site survey most often costing less than a cost of single 120 foot dry hole.
For our clients the right location for the well on the property may make the difference on being able to have enough water for the house and a cattle operation, water for trees and the garden, vs. barely enough for the house and and keeping a small flower bed watered or simply not being able to subdivide a few acres because water availability isn't proven for the site. Ask a Realtor. Good ones that know acreages, should be able to fully advise you on the particulars for a well on a property and the value a good well can add. If they don't it is something you should check yourself before ever buying a property. Really if you are looking at buying a country property its a good question to test a realtor. If he can't answer, water being as important as it is on the country, find a different one.
For our clients the right location for the well on the property may make the difference on being able to have enough water for the house and a cattle operation, water for trees and the garden, vs. barely enough for the house and and keeping a small flower bed watered or simply not being able to subdivide a few acres because water availability isn't proven for the site. Ask a Realtor. Good ones that know acreages, should be able to fully advise you on the particulars for a well on a property and the value a good well can add. If they don't it is something you should check yourself before ever buying a property. Really if you are looking at buying a country property its a good question to test a realtor. If he can't answer, water being as important as it is on the country, find a different one.
Feel free to call us on our toll-free or email with any questions you might have.
