The water well building process is one that's very involved from start to finish. Even once you have one in place and working, you'll need to continue doing testing well into the future. It's important, therefore, to be thorough about how you approach the job.

Finding Water

The first issue is finding a dependable source of water. You can look at a variety of potential sources of data, including land titles, information from the state, and other assessments of the probability that there will be water on a property. Modern geospatial information systems also can sometimes provide more informed guesses about where you might find fresh water. Ultimately, though, you'll have to drill a hole and find out whether you have a winner, and you may need to keep doing so to increasing depths until luck turns your way.

Mapping the Source of Water

Once you've hit water, you'll need to provide the information about your strike to the state. Depending upon how close the source is to the property line, you may then need to obtain an easement in order to make use of it, especially if there's a chance it might influence an ecologically important area or intrude upon a neighbor.

Water Quality Issues

Before investing too heavily in exploiting a water source, you'll want to check that it can provide fresh water that meets state and federal standards. Companies that drill for water wells are familiar with these standards, but it doesn't hurt to look on your state's website and the EPA's site in order to learn more about those standards. It's not uncommon for water to require a degree of remediation in order to be made drinkable, and many decisions from this point forward will hinge on how this can be done. You may need to, for example, install a water softener system in order to obtain something drinkable.

Construction of the Well

Modern water well building techniques entail quite a bit of construction, including putting in pipes, pouring a cement casing and adding a cap above the ground, adding sealing materials in areas where there's shallow water, and putting a gravel pack around the spot where the pump will go. Numerous safety features, such as valves, will need to be installed, too. You'll also likely want to add an above-ground tank to improve the amount of pressure your water supply will provide.

For more information, contact a local well building company like Jackson Well Services. 

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