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How to drill your own water well

drillyourownwell.com

71–80 of 233 posts

Re: How to drill your own water well

#71
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And today I am reminded that people in many places must get the state’s permission to build, repair, or improve their shelter, to grow food, to collect rainwater, to dig a well. On property they “own”. You’re literally asking the states permission to have the basic things needed for human survival- shelter, food, and water. While this makes sense to me for a business or an organisation, it strikes me as unconscionabl…

Because you alter things outside of your perimeter. If you extract a lot of water you might cause issues at your neighbour.

>Because you alter things outside of your perimeter.

Indeed, but you need a permit for a lot of things contained within your property too. Technically, I need a permit to change my front door. Kinda silly, mostly ignored by people, which is probably a worse outcome.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#72
post #54

I wondered how getting a permit in Switzerland would work. According to some sources I found: - You need to request a permit from your city and your canton's water and sewage department - To get a permit, you need a "proof of utility", so you can't just dig a well for fun, it needs to bring some benefit. - You need a written technical planning document as well, including an analysis on the energy- and cost-efficiency…

Reminds me of this, what boomers needed vs what I need: https://ifunny.co/picture/an-258534577-82-258535541-258535-1...

Re: How to drill your own water well

#73
post #66
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And today I am reminded that people in many places must get the state’s permission to build, repair, or improve their shelter, to grow food, to collect rainwater, to dig a well. On property they “own”. You’re literally asking the states permission to have the basic things needed for human survival- shelter, food, and water. While this makes sense to me for a business or an organisation, it strikes me as unconscionabl…

> it strikes me as unconscionable for a private individual to have to get permission from the state to survive. It would be nice to be free of the state. But how do we deal with the Tragedy of the Commons? How do we make hidden externalities visible & accurately priced? It seems like the population is too high in most places to be able to tolerate people doing their own thing, with their own property. Not sustainable…

> how do we deal with the Tragedy of the Commons? How do we make hidden externalities visible & accurately priced

We do (pretend to do) when it's easy enough. But mostly we don't. Some examples:

- (micro)plastic pollution

- climate change (greenhouse gases)

- deforestation

- biodiversity loss

- overfishing, bycatch

We even subsidize the sectors causing most of the damage. But for for a regular joe wanting to have water ... sure, that's easy enough.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#74
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And today I am reminded that people in many places must get the state’s permission to build, repair, or improve their shelter, to grow food, to collect rainwater, to dig a well. On property they “own”. You’re literally asking the states permission to have the basic things needed for human survival- shelter, food, and water. While this makes sense to me for a business or an organisation, it strikes me as unconscionabl…

Because you alter things outside of your perimeter. If you extract a lot of water you might cause issues at your neighbour.

Yet e.g. fracking or animal agriculture gets subsidized, no reasonable limits are being enforced, while doing most of the damage.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#75
post #41

In Poland it's quite common for people to just hand dig their wells, using concrete rings for the reinforcement of walls. It's legal up to 30 meters depth and up to 5 m^3/day water yield. Article (in Polish but there's pics): https://darmowyporadnik.pl/artykul/36/budownictwo/kopanie-st... Edit: Or maybe I should say "it was" - most new wells are just a vertical steel pipe with a submerged electric pump rather than bi…

That's >1300 US Gallons, which is a little more than what we use in a week as a family of 5.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#76
post #41

In Poland it's quite common for people to just hand dig their wells, using concrete rings for the reinforcement of walls. It's legal up to 30 meters depth and up to 5 m^3/day water yield. Article (in Polish but there's pics): https://darmowyporadnik.pl/artykul/36/budownictwo/kopanie-st... Edit: Or maybe I should say "it was" - most new wells are just a vertical steel pipe with a submerged electric pump rather than bi…

The first week I came to live in Guatemala from the USA 3 brothers from a nearby village dies of asphyxiation at the bottom of a hand dug well which had a generator running too close up above. Don't risk it. Confined spaces are dangerous.

I think it will solve itself as people move to steel pipes which are generally less labor intensive to drill. They also eliminate the danger of falling into the well.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#77
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you alter things outside of your perimeter. If you extract a lot of water you might cause issues at your neighbour.

Yet e.g. fracking or animal agriculture gets subsidized, no reasonable limits are being enforced, while doing most of the damage.

Groups that do those things have political clout. The average homeowner does not.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#78
post #41

In Poland it's quite common for people to just hand dig their wells, using concrete rings for the reinforcement of walls. It's legal up to 30 meters depth and up to 5 m^3/day water yield. Article (in Polish but there's pics): https://darmowyporadnik.pl/artykul/36/budownictwo/kopanie-st... Edit: Or maybe I should say "it was" - most new wells are just a vertical steel pipe with a submerged electric pump rather than bi…

The first week I came to live in Guatemala from the USA 3 brothers from a nearby village dies of asphyxiation at the bottom of a hand dug well which had a generator running too close up above. Don't risk it. Confined spaces are dangerous.

These wells are a few inches across. There's no risk of falling in.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#79

"Mother Earth News" is a good resource: (1984) https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/d... > Some people ... got their rig stuck three different times in their first well! As they wrote, “We recognize that many of our problems are due to our inexperience …. But our inexperience is not much different from yours.” They have many other articles on the subject; but I'm fond of linking to this one in p…

> Orville and Dot Synoground of Pine Mountain, Georgia, drilled through 35 feet of solid granite with a Hydra-Drill and a diamond coring bit. They hit the rock layer at 18 feet and kept drilling — cutting about six inches of granite an hour — until they broke through. After three solid weeks of work, Orville and Dot struck water at 165 feet.

I honestly don’t think I’d have that level of determination unless I was truly desperate.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#80
post #41

In Poland it's quite common for people to just hand dig their wells, using concrete rings for the reinforcement of walls. It's legal up to 30 meters depth and up to 5 m^3/day water yield. Article (in Polish but there's pics): https://darmowyporadnik.pl/artykul/36/budownictwo/kopanie-st... Edit: Or maybe I should say "it was" - most new wells are just a vertical steel pipe with a submerged electric pump rather than bi…

That's >1300 US Gallons, which is a little more than what we use in a week as a family of 5.

My family of 4 uses

500 gallons of water here in Himalayan foothills.

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