Jim in Aransas Pass, Texas needed irrigation for both raising crops and also to save trees that were suffering from droughts. This past summer he lost some 30 to 50 year old oak trees.
His geological situation is unique. He has a four foot water table with fresh water down to about 80 feet and increasingly brackish water at greater depths. His home is served by a 120 foot well that provides good water except during summer droughts. During droughts the salt content of the water at 120 feet increases.
Jim said, “The whole coastal aquifer is largely untapped due to the saline content the deeper you go. It will kill any non salt tolerant plant. The shallower water is supposed to be free of salt. My deep well puts out a bunch of water 20+ gpm into 400 gallon storage. It took me a while to figure out it was the salt content in the summer drought that was killing my plants. “
Jim sent this picture to show the problem he had with his trees.
Jim drilled a well and was successful. He had to go through multiple layers of sand and clay. His first well was at 17 feet and powered an oscillating sprinkler. As he improved his technique and became more experienced, he also got more ambitious! He drilled 12 wells including a couple of injection wells and is now is adding geothermal heat pump to his residence!
Jim said,
Thanks a bunch without your website and feed back and a lot of my determination based on your experiences. I would not have a shallow well or I would have paid 3,000.00 for a 80 foot submersible well turn key. All is good.
His water is murky but salt free and works well for his irrigation needs.
Jim put down a total of 12 wells!
Jim recruited a helper for his mammoth task of 12 wells!
Interestingly, Jim got a wide variance in production over the wells on his three acres. He said, “I put in 12 wells and 5 pumps. I am working on the well for heat pump. It is a wimpy well with 2 – 3″ wells filled with gravel output is 4 gpm. I need 10-12 gpm. Apparently right side of property has a different sand structure as output on that side is 10-15 gpm same type of wells. … My furthest well which is downhill apparently and only 14′ to clay pack is my best well. It will push a 3/4 garden hose water 12′ with 40 psi. All of my wells now were done with 3″ pipe with 5′ screen and 10+ gravel pack and 2 wells per pump.”
Jim said, “if you put about 4 cups of kitty litter down the well when you are at your depth and put the top back on and let it run 10-15 minutes the walls will not cave back in on the pipe. I pulled my drill pipe back out on my wells as they were filled with gravel.” I have not tried this but kitty litter is made of bentonite, the same stuff that real drillers use to keep their drillholes from collapsing.