any body worried about their well this year?

with little to no snow melt and as windy and dry as it has been, we are a bit concerned about our well. We have NEVER worried about it as the water table sits high here and our well is big, but it is down about 5 feet from where it should be this time of year. We have never seen it down that far.

Curious - how do you measure this ?? Down X feet.

Thanks

Noper, still got snow, under some trees in back....

we just look in the well. I think it is called a cistern well. It is located inside our house in a closet in the basement and it's big - about 3 feet in diameter and about 15 feet or more deep. It is usually about a foot from the top this time of year. We have high ground water table, usually.

looks kinda like this



we have a pond that is spring fed. Here's what it usually looks like in May. The spring runs down that log into the pond.


here it is this year. no spring running at all. the water in the pond is our ground water table. pitaful sight, ain't it? this may the year we dig out the pond to make it deeper in places and put a proper liner in. at this rate, it should be dry by August.

Seems you may have a problem - my well is drilled several hundred feed down - uses a recharge system.....IF you have a shallow well you may have a problem........as do others.



Thanks.

hope not, we have never had a problem and neither did the previous owners that built the house back in 1990. we have always had TONS of water here. We are in a valley where lots of hills come into with underground springs. keeping fingers crossed

It is difficult to generalize about the regional water table simply by looking at the water level in a well. It is unreasonable to expect all wells to show a lower water table because they are not all tied to the same recharge area. Snow around your house is not likely to end up in your well, unless there is an open fracture system that your well intersects and that extends all the way to the surface. Dried up spring fed ponds do indicate lower water table in your area as they represent the water table. The water table is not a flat surface, but has highs and lows. Of course, having said all that, the lower snow totals in the Bear Mountain drainage system mean less water will make it into the water table. How much it drops is a function of use in addition to lower recharge values. Here is hoping that no one will experience water problems this year.

thanks, Franz. this pounding of snow today should help us all!

Good post Doc - well diggers are as a rule "scare mongers".........the snow today is good for the trees and grasses.