Installing a well
We have always known developing this land was going to take a lot of research and preparation with a bit of luck mixed in. Just the type of project Ray and I cherish! First development en devour was to find water. Here is a quick run down of the steps we took to get water to our future homestead.
1) DETERMINE WELL SITE. This required quite a bit of dreaming for our future home right off the bat. Our 70 acres are divided into two 35 acre lots. One of which had a predetermined home site. Phew! At least that narrowed our location down a little.
2) DETERMINE NEEDS. We then had to layout the structures and uses around our house that would need water. We came up with a future detached garage, a large barn, the house, and a small family orchard. Important note, at this time we did not realize you could only have a 1/2 acre garden; anything bigger required water rights. We of course laid out a beautiful two acres site (not 1/2) right in front of our home. Alas, water rights would need to be tackled in the future.
3) FIND A DRILLING COMPANY & GET A BID. This was a no brainier as we have a reputable drilling company down the road, Skyes Well Drilling. Most bids will have a flat rate for a called out depth and if the company needs to drill further than the designated depth, there will be x additional cost added. We had a flat bid for 150 feet. We found water at 170 feet and drilled to 175. When all was said and done, we had roughly 14 gallons per minute (GPM) from our new well!
Professional Work
FInd a drilling company and get a bid.
5) INSTALL PUMP. At this point, you would have a company come in and install a pump. However, we chose to install our own pump. We didn’t have power up there yet and a company would have required power, we wanted to “try to install our own pump” using a generator, and let’s be honest - we could say we did it ourselves. So we ordered a pump off of Amazon, gathered friends, and dropped more than 170 feet of pipe, pump, and generator to pull our fresh water. SUCCESS!
Created a human chain over our little trailer to fish down 170 feet of pipe. Max (age 10) is supervising the crew.
My best friend since 5th grade in Hawaii, Suzy, was always by our side during this adventure!
Abby (our golden), Ray, Bella, and Scott line up for duty.
6) FRESH WATER SUCCESS. We ended up getting 14 gallons per minute from or new well.
Testing Your Water
It’s always a good idea to send your water off for testing. There are home kits, as well as, companies who will test for multiple things. Of course, we had to try our own home kit from Amazon (felt cool in front of the kids) but we also sent it out to a company for Fisher’s Supply in Canby, OR. We initially tested for bacteria, e coli, arsenic, nitrates, potability. In the future, you can test for minerals, contaminants, iron, and PH to determine what you may need as a filtration system for your household.
Everyone was excited at our first signs of water (even the dogs)!
