per day. That same year we drilled another well to 160 feet and it produced about 2,500 gallons a day for that first year, but after sitting over the winter lost its luster and never produced more that 1,000 gallons a day.

The fall of 2002 we put in our 125,000 gallon steel water tank that gave us the ability to store water for the heavy use times until we had a good producing well. The first winter gave us some challenges and we could only bring in 700 gallons at a time. On new years we lost 40,000 gallons through a leak and had to haul water through the night to keep our guest in showers.

The spring of 2003 we drilled a well to 1,000 feet that came up dry. The summer of 2003 we had regular trips from a water truck that pumped 5,000 gallons at a time. Then August we started yet another well, with the advice of two witchers that said there is water at 400 to 500 feet. We went to 500 then 1,000 and still no water.

Sat down with the driller and decided that we would go 1,500 feet, even though the cost starts going up exponentially. He finished in November after going out and purchasing a third compressor (these aren’t the type you have in your garage, they come mounted to a semi trailer.) The well driller got down to 1,100 feet and had to set an 8 inch inside diameter pipe in the hole so he could blow the tailings out of the hole (otherwise the air had too many escape passages).

With the eight inch pipe in place he placed a 7 5/8 inch drill down the hole and drilled to 1,520 feet. We found water in the range of 6 to 10 gallons a minute. The next step was to put a 6 inch inside diameter pipe from 1100 feet down to 1520 feet, concrete in the first 100 feet from the surface from the eight inch pipe to the outside of the twelve and half inch hole. Now we were ready for our pump man and the electrician.

We set the pump at 1,400 feet as the water level in the hole was static at 1,200 feet. We ran electrical lines and yes the electrician was 3 months late getting his work done so the pump installer used a caterpillar to get his rig up the 3 mile road. With snow flying we were able to set the pump with 500 feet of one inch pipe and 900 feet of two inch pipe that was special made for oil fields.

The weight of the 3 strand ‘O’ cable with ground wire weighted 2,500 pounds by itself without the 7.5 HP pump and the pipe. Finally set we needed the electrician to finish installing a special variable speed drive that allows the pump to start slowly and then pickup speed. That process finished about the middle of March and then off to the water lab with samples to be tested. We found 2.6 parts per million of iron which meant we needed to condition the water.

On Monday the 24th of April (yes we did start this project the first of August) we started pumping water to our water tank. We filter the water at the well head, chlorinate it and send it on to the water tank. Coming into the building under the yoga floor we already had an ultraviolet light sanitation system, added now is a 4 cubic foot carbon filter that will take out the iron (oxidized by the chlorine) and the chlorine.

It has been a long and frustrating process, but done and we have a water system that works. For those that bemoaned your water bill, know that we currently have invested in wells and tank approximately $250,000. The price one pays to be in the middle of paradise.

Now we have water that can be drunk straight from the tap and is probably better that most bottled water. We haven’t tested it yet but the water we are getting could be 50 to 100 years old. That means that this six year drought we are in the middle of won’t be affecting our water source.

by John Epert